It's Not About You
by narrazione
Summary: DEADLIEST CATCH.  Years after her mother's death, Kjiersten Hansen realizes just how much she needs the woman she never knew.  A horrible, horrible summary, so just take pity on me and read it!
1. Chapter 1

*****Thanks for checking out my new story! This one is going to have longer chapters and, since it's kind of the busy time of the school year, I probably won't be updating as often as I did last time. I'll do what I can, though. I really like the idea I have for this, and I hope you guys do, too! For those that didn't read my last story, it's not super important that you do, but there might be some backwards references that you don't get. It's called Where i'm Not Wanted if you want to check that one out first. Of course, I own none of this. Kjiersten is said KeyEARsten in case that is confusing. I wanted a Norwegian-y spelling!*****

Sig Hansen hated children, but something about the little tyke squirming away from Edgar was melting even his heart. This kid, this little 5 year-old thing he was watching run around his deck…that was really something. Almost made him want one of his own. Almost. He had no idea that, in just a few months, he'd get the news that he would, in fact, have one of his own to deal with. That was news for another day.

Today? Today was just about watching that little thing have fun on deck. They were supposed to be getting the Northwestern ready for cod fishing, but there was no doubt that absolutely no work was getting done. Edgar was too busy tormenting the poor tyke, Sig was too busy watching and trying not to make those damn cooing noises come out of his mouth, and Norman was too busy making sure his kid didn't get killed.

Edgar picked the kid up, and Norman let out a sharp reprimanded that had the youngest Hansen immediately putting the poor young thing down. Sig watched Norm pick up his daughter, carefully brushing off her child-sized Northwestern hoodie. Edgar must have gotten hydraulic fluid on it, and Hanna would not be happy about that. Norman and Hanna couldn't boast that they had a neat child by any stretch of the imagination, and something about having a child that found every speck of dirt on the planet made Hanna particularly pissy about any messes she had to clean that weren't her own child's fault.

He was about to pick up the hailer and tease his brothers about how much work they'd done when his sat phone rang. Really? Sig sighed, always sad to miss an opportunity to rag on his little brothers, and picked it up.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Sig? Sig, it's Paula. Is Norm around?"

"Yeah, he's just on the deck. Gimme a sec, I'll get him." Sig nodded even though his wife couldn't see and began to reach for the hailer.

"NO!" Her sharp cry made Sig freeze, and he could sense now that something was wrong. She didn't sound right. It was a sat phone, sure, but it didn't distort voices that badly. "No," she repeated. "I can't tell him this myself. It's…Sig…there…"

"Take your time." She was crying. Paula hadn't cried since their wedding day. Actually, she had cried when they put their dog down, too, but that had been years ago. She hadn't even cried when he accidentally slammed the car door on her arm two years ago, and that had done some nasty damage. Yet again, he looked out at the deck, where Norm's kid was sitting in the middle of the sorting table, arms crossed and bottom lip sticking out. Someone was in time out, it seemed. Norm and Edgar were finally able to get some work done.

"No, I'm…Sig, it's Hanna. There's been an accident."

His heart sank as he watched Norman bend down to explain why the time out was necessary. That little brother of his. He was a damn good dad.

"How bad is it?"

"Oh, babe…she…"

"Paula, please. How. Bad?" Sig sank his head into his hand and massaged his forehead, not able to look at his brothers, feeling like he was somehow keeping something from them.

"Sig, she didn't make it. She's gone."

* * *

"Dad, Dad, Daddy, you give that to me. You fucking give that to me right now!" Kjiersten Hansen pointed menacingly, watching as her father studied the bouquet of daisies like they were foreign objects.

"Watch your language, Tyke. Haven't you ever heard it's bad luck to swear in front of your family?" Sig shook his head, watching Norman look from the flowers to his daughter and back down.

"I've heard that it's bad luck for my dad to handle any kind of flower because he always ruins the bouquets I pick out. Now, seriously," she stuck her hand out and snapped twice, "hand over the goods."

"I like them," Norm insisted. "I might keep one."

"If you take a flower out of that bouquet, I swear to God above, I will tell Grandma. Now, really, Dad, please pass over the flowers before any living thing gets destroyed."

"I think once you cut the flowers, they're not alive anymore, Tyke," Edgar pointed out, earning himself the famous Hansen glare. He secretly loved when his niece narrowed her ocean blue eyes, lowered her eyebrows and set her bottom jaw in the same way he and his brothers did, and it kind of made him laugh when that glare was aimed at him. It was intimidating, sure, but still funny. This was his niece, for Christ's sake. He'd changed her diapers and bandaged her boo-boos. He'd taught her how to chop bait and throw a hook and down a shot. Hell, he'd probably taught her that very glare. Lord knew Norman didn't use it all that much. No, Norm was more the strong and silent type, preferring to let your own guilty conscious wear away at you until you went insane.

"Dad. The flowers. Seriously. You know the drill." Norman sighed and handed the bouquet over, acting like he was making a huge concession by doing so.

Because, yes, he did know the drill. She had a different bouquet every year, always a variety of daisies that she had chosen from who-knows-what flower store, and he would get the bill in a few weeks and pay without complaint. Every year, she had a new black dress that made him realize his little girl wasn't so little anymore. His brothers drove them because, every year, his truck was broken and something she was doing kept him from fixing it. He ruined the flowers, normally by popping a few heads off or dropping the arrangement and spreading them all over the ground, as an annual tradition. So far, she was fighting to keep the last one from happening. Everything else had gone according to plan.

Kjiersten hadn't gotten any taller since last year, but she looked older. It was only a year, but every year out on the Bering took about five off the lifespan. And she had never really been a kid, anyway. She was only 24, but it was easy to forget sometimes. Of course, she'd always be his little girl. Even if she was 5'8", 140 pounds, and could easily beat the shit out of any guy she met. She could, too; her uncles made sure of that.

She had the thin, dusty blonde hair of a Hansen, and had grown it down to mid-back, preferring to keep it long despite the job hazards. It was almost always down, and she never did much to it. It was pretty straight naturally, but it had enough of a wave to it to be interesting. She was fit, too, from working on the boat. It had been a battle, but Kjiersten had insisted on working on the Northwestern at 18. Norm hadn't wanted her to go, and he still had his concerns, but she was one of the best damn crabbers Dutch Harbor had ever seen. Or so Sig claimed. It's not like he was biased or anything.

She swore and drank and smoked, but that was the life of a Hansen. She drank coffee like it was her lifeblood, was never uncomfortable around even the crudest of fishermen's sexual jokes, and loved her Northwestern jacket more than anything else she owned. She still lived with her dad, but was so much like her uncles that it was scary at times.

"Dad, are you gonna stand there all day, or is your lazy ass gonna start moving? These boots," she shook one leg to emphasize her knee-high black leather boots, "were made for walkin'. Let's go."

Norm chuckled to himself and trailed along behind his daughter as she blazed her own trail. Every year, without fail, they took the same path. It couldn't be a typical path, either. No, that wasn't the Hansen way. Kjiersten made the brothers bob and weave and carefully avoid headstones that she breezed by with no problem, as if she had the whole layout of the cemetery memorized.

They stopped in front of a slightly weathered stone, where Kjiersten was already bent down. Like every year, she put the flowers at the base of the stone and rested her hand over the engraving.

"Hey, Momma. How you doing?"

Edgar and Sig stepped back as Norm stepped forward, just like they did every year. Norm bent down next to his daughter, which was getting harder and harder for him with each passing year. He put his hand over hers so his fingers just brushed the stone, muttering something that Edgar and Sig could never make out. They would stay like that for a while, telling her everything that had happened that year. All the highlights, the major events. That day, they'd tell her that Kjiersten finally broke up with that boyfriend of hers, that Norm had backed his truck into her jeep and had made them both temporarily undrivable, that Phil had passed away, that Sig's daughter broke off her engagement a few months ago, that they put their dog down, everything. Everything that had made them laugh until their stomachs hurt, cry, punch the wall, or squeal in excitement, they passed on. And, for the record, Kjiersten did most of the squealing.

"Can you believe it's been 19 years already?" Edgar muttered. "It feels like yesterday sometimes."

"I know," Sig mumbled, running a hand through his hair as Kjiersten playfully smacked her dad with her free hand. "Just look at that kid of theirs. All grown up. I don't know how he did it without her."

"I don't know how he did a lot of things without her," Edgar agreed. They settled into a comfortable silence, their thoughts drifting in different directions.

Finally, Kjiersten stood up and brushed her skirt off. Norman tried to push himself off of the headstone for momentum, but his hand slipped and landed right on the bouquet. Kjiersten let out a yelp and grabbed his shoulders to pull him up.

"Fuckin-a, Dad! We were right there! Right fucking there. SO CLOSE!"

"Hey!" Norm held his hands up defensively. "I'm an old man. Be glad I didn't break a hip in my fall."

"I should just put you in a home now," she shook her head and looked at her mother's headstone. "You see this? He can't be doing this stuff anymore. He's ancient, Momma. He needs help. I can't do this by myself, and those good-for-nothing uncles won't do a damn thing."

"How the hell did we get dragged into this? Just cuz Norm can't stand up doesn't mean anything!" Sig insisted.

"Yeah, and if Norm's going to a home, Sig needs one, too!" Edgar earned himself a shot in the ribs for that.

"Alright, alright," Norm held his hands up. "If you three are done, can we get dinner now? I'm starving."

"God, yes, please!" Kjiersten agreed. "I haven't eaten since breakfast." She scurried to follow her uncles but, like every year, Norman hung back with his wife. He watched as Kjiersten caught up to his brothers and hopped up on Edgars back, completely ignoring that she was in a skirt. Edgar didn't complain, just laughed and grabbed her legs to adjust her so he was most comfortable while carrying her piggy-back to the car. That girl could get whatever she wanted out of whoever she wanted without fail. That wasn't the Hansen in her. That was 100% Hanna.

"Look at her go, Hanna. That girl of ours…she's really something special. You'd be proud of her. She's just like you." Kjiersten laughed at something Sig said and ruffled Edgar's hair. "I miss you, babe. Happy Mother's Day."


	2. Chapter 2

*****Thanks for reading! For those that said they cried the first chapter, that's what I was going for, so thanks for the feedback! That's great. I'm hoping this story isn't a total downer, but I do love playing with emotions when I write. Of course, none of the Deadliest Catch stuff is mine.*****

It was hard to say what woke Kjiersten up first: the loud thud of her dad hitting the floor or the engine alarm going off. Either way, she was out of bed immediately, throwing on the Northwestern hoodie she had unceremoniously dumped on the floor the night before. After confirming that Norman was alright, just a sore shoulder from being jolted out of bed by the sudden wave, she fought to throw her boots on. Edgar popped his head through the door just as she finished lacing them up.

"Ass in gear, Tyke. Time to work."

"My ass is more in gear than yours, old man," she grumbled, not a particular fan of the Bering's rude awakenings. They were coming off of their last offload this salmon tendering, and she had been looking forward to crashing in her bunk the whole day. The only time they were on the boat with the knowledge that Sig wouldn't drag them back out on deck, something else had to conspire against her. Was there a universal law against getting more than three hours of sleep?

"What was that?" Edgar shot her a look over his shoulder as Sig met them at the bottom of the wheelhouse steps.

"Nothing," she rolled her eyes. Sig fired a barrage of questions at his two engineers, but they ignored him like they always did in hopes that he would one day stop asking questions when he knew they had no answers. They fought a futile battle, but ignoring the eldest Hansen gave both Edgar and Kjiersten a sense of unity as they descended into the engine room. Edgar might be her favorite uncle, and she might secretly be his favorite niece, but they always harbored a bit of a hatred for each other when situations like this came up. After being flung from bed at 1 in the morning after a day of offloading salmon in St. Paul, you hated just about everything.

Edgar handed her a pair of earphones, which she clamped over her ears without pushing her hair out of the way. It was messy and knotted from rolling in her sleep, and she didn't want to touch it and risk reminding herself of just how bad it was. They both grabbed goggles and immediately began scanning the engine, looking for what was out of place, what was wrong, what shouldn't be there. Sig waited impatiently on the stairs, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, and Edgar kept shooting him glances. There was no malice behind the looks, but Kjiersten knew exactly what Uncle Eddie was thinking. They would work a hell of a lot faster if he would stop _hovering_.

"Uncle Sig!" she snapped, barely audible over the roaring engine, "Go drive the damn boat!"

"We'll keep you posted," Edgar added. Sig hesitated for a moment, but finally turned and left. He'd left Nick up there, since it was technically his wheel watch anyway, but it probably wasn't safe to have anyone else on the wheel right now. Not with this sea.

Edgar and Kjiersten shared a look over the engine, and her uncle nodded shortly before they both went back to work. A few minutes later, he let out a shout, and she rushed over to see the problem. They had a leak, something a quick patch would have to cover. Right now, they just had to get to port, and they could fix it properly from there. They fist-bumped before she ran up to fill in her other, less patient uncle, and Edgar ran to grab the supplies he needed.

The first day she stepped on the Northwestern as a crabber, Norman and Edgar dragged her down to the engine room. She'd had no intention at the tender age of 18 of spending her days covered in hydraulic fluid and grease, but her family had other plans. Even before she was old and strong enough to wield tools, her dad sat her down while he fixed cars so she could watch and learn. He'd carefully explain what everything was, how it worked, and why things broke. He'd walk her through the steps of checking if it was broken, fixing it so it worked, and fixing properly. By the time she could actually start using the tools he talked about, she could already do some basic repairs completely on her own. She was probably the only eight-year-old that knew how to replace spark plugs. It seemed natural, at least to her family, to get another engineer on the boat. The fact that she wanted nothing to do with the complex world of boat engineering didn't matter one bit.

They knew she'd learn to love it. Even when she bitched and moaned about running down to the engine room when her dad was more than capable, they knew. They knew that, eventually, she'd be spotting problems before Edgar, ordering her dad to stay in bed because she could handle it, snapping at Sig to stay the fuck out of the way so she could do her goddamn job, and yelling at greenhorn Jake that if he ever touched her engine again she'd smash his balls with a wrench. Well, maybe not exactly those scenarios, but they knew the gist of the monster they were creating. It was just an added bonus that they got to watch Jake flinch every time she picked up any sort of tool.

When she descended the engine room stairs again, Edgar held up three fingers, then two, then one. When the last finger was down, she signaled upstairs and simultaneously shut down the engine. They waited for the hum to completely stop before Edgar set the patch, and he did the same countdown so she could start it up again. She ran to his side so they could both stare at the patch intently. After a minute, they fist bumped again, dumped off their protective gear, and headed upstairs.

"Problem solved," Edgar announced as they climbed into the wheelhouse. "We'll need a new line when we hit land, though."

Sig swore under his breath. "But we're good for now?"

"Good for now," Kjiersten nodded, keeping her eyes out at the water and not on anything that could possibly reflect her image back at her. She didn't need the reminder that she looked like crap. Edgar had his sweatpants on backwards, the same Northwestern hoodie she did, and desperately needed to shave. She knew she was in an equal state of disarray, but preferred to live in oblivion for now. "She'll hold 'til port."

Sig sighed heavily and massaged his forehead. "Alright, we'll keep an eye on it."

Edgar ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. "Your dad alright? Looked like he took a nasty spill there."

"Yeah," she nodded, throwing a hand over her mouth to cover her yawn. "I think so. I mean, he said his shoulder bugged him, but he rolled it a few times and it seemed alright. I'm gonna grab him an ice pack and some painkillers so it doesn't stiffen up. He'll live."

"See," Sig ruffled her hair, "I wish I was bunking with you guys. No one takes care of me like that."

"You have a room all to yourself the whole season. Excuse me while I don't shed any tears, Uncle Sig," she snorted.

"Sometimes I think Matt has plans to kill me in my sleep," Edgar grunted.

"He probably does," she nodded. "Could be worse. You could bunk with Junior."

"Hey now," Edgar laughed and shook his head. "Just because he snores doesn't mean he's a terrible roommate."

"Yes, that's _exactly_ what it means," she grinned. "That's why I never room with anyone but my dad! No snoring." Sig laughed and ruffled her hair again.

"Get some sleep, Tyke. You need it."

"Not as much as you two. You _really_ need some beauty sleep."

"I'm gonna smack you," Edgar pointed while Sig just shook his head and chuckled.

"Bring. It . On." He laughed at her challenge, a quick replay of their past wrestling matches running through his head. When they were younger, he used to let her win. Now, he was pretty sure it went the other way. Funny how she got stronger as she aged, but he was just getting creakier.

"Naw, you're right," he waved her off. "I'm an old man. I need sleep. I have to replace this lug," he nudged his brother, "in a few hours."

"Aw!" she broke almost instantly, giving him wide puppy-dog eye. "You're not old, Uncle Eddie! Neither is Uncle Sig. You are both beautiful Norwegian men who look more rugged and handsome with the occasional sign of age!"

"Please leave my wheelhouse," Sig laughed. "My Kjierston quota just filled for the day."

"I'm being kind, dammit! Be thankful," she smacked, earning herself another hair ruffle.

"She tries," Edgar rolled his eyes, let her go first down the stairs, and followed her towards the state rooms.

"I'm a nice person," she nodded definitively, always thankful when there were no cameras following them. She used to hate salmon tendering and cod fishing until the show started. Like her dad, she wasn't particularly fond of the film crew. But they _loved_ her. A female crabber? A Hansen girl? It added a whole new element to the story they were telling, and they always wanted to hear what she had to say. While her dad could sneak past them like a ninja, they would find her no matter where she went. The part of her that shared blood with her uncles kind of liked the attention, but the part of her that came from Norman, something that ran much deeper than Edgar and Sig's influence, hated it.

He had to laugh at that. Norman always defended rude comments with the assurance that he was overall a decent person. "You sound like your old man."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she grinned, gently pushing past him to get an ice pack from the freezer. Edgar smiled as she waved her good-night, not bothering to stick around for his response. Not that she usually tried to formally end conversations.

"It is a compliment," he muttered to himself as she disappeared into her stateroom, her voice faintly drifting down the hall as she ordered her father to take the Advil before she forced it down his throat. She left no doubt that she was a Hansen, that was for sure.


	3. Chapter 3

*****I got a lot written over spring break, sat down today to post something, and hated almost all of it. Yay. Lots of revising to do. Lots and lots. Thanks for reading and reviewing-I love seeing what you guys think! Hopefully I'll get something else up soon. Of course, I still own nothing*** **

Josh Harris instinctively reached for his lighter as Kjiersten plopped next to him on the couch, and she had a cigarette in her mouth just as he passed it over. She didn't bother to thank him before lighting up, and he didn't bother to tell her that she'd be dead by 45 if she wasn't careful. Some things just don't need to be said between friends. Days like this, he knew better than to give her the electronic cigarette lecture. Not on her mother's birthday. He jumped as a pair of leather boots were thrust into his lap.

"These things are killing my feet. Help?" He smirked at Kjiersten and expected her to take them off herself, but she looked at him so innocently as their friends argued over what movie to start with that he grabbed the bottom of the boot and pulled. "You're the best, Joshie."

"I know," he grunted as the first boot came off. "Would it have killed you to change?"

"Yup," she nodded her head. Kjiersten was still in the black halter dress she'd worn to the cemetery earlier, although she had thrown a pair of bicycle shorts on under the skirt and a Northwestern hoodie overtop. "Where's your girl?"

"Gina? Uh," he glanced over his shoulder as he pulled her other boot off, "bathroom, maybe? Kinda lost track."

"Joshie," she scolded, "keep track of your girlfriends!"

"Wait, back it up!" the redhead kneeling in front of the DVD player whirled to face them. "Josh has multiple girls now? Why do I always miss this shit going down? This is important, Josh! You have to tell me these things!"

"I don't," he paused to yank Kjiersten's other boot off, "I don't have multiple girls, Ani. Kier's just being retarded."

"Don't insult people with mental illnesses," the boy with the unbrushed mop of coffee-brown hair next to Ani mumbled into the DVD case he was staring at. "They don't want to be compared to her."

"Watch it, Vince. Don't make me kick your ass," she threatened, stretching her legs back out over Josh's lap. "I had a long day, and I don't need shit from you people."

"Excuse me?" Ani raised her eyebrows, leaning back against the couch. "We pick you up from your dad's house 'cuz you're too damn lazy to fix your fucking car, whisk you away to a happy land of friendship and love, buy you a goddamn cookie cake, and willingly sit through a marathon of shitty old horror movies. We're the best damn friends in the world, and you better be fucking thankful, bitch."

The room laughed at that. Ani was one of a select few that could go toe-to-toe with Kjiersten, and that's what kept them such good friends. They'd grown up together in Seattle, and she was one of the few female friends Kjiersten could claim to have. Her friends were mostly men and crabbers, with the exception of a few girls from high school that had stuck around. It didn't seem that she got along with girls well. Kjiersten was a bit abrasive, as her uncles would proudly say. Like any Hansen, she always preferred to know exactly what people thought about her and assumed everyone felt the same. If she thought it, you could guarantee that it would come out of her mouth a few seconds later. There was no filter between Kjiersten Hansen's brain and mouth.

"We even bought beer. Enough beer for a room full of alcoholi…" Vince glanced at Josh, hesitated, and tried again. "Enough beer for a room full of people that don't have drinking problems but still go through the shit at ungodly rates."

"And I shall love you until my dying day, I know, I know." Kjiersten rolled her eyes and glanced towards the doorway. "Fuckin-a, Josh, where's this Gina chick? I am dying to meet her!"

"I don't know why," Josh mumbled, holding her ankles so her legs didn't fall as he leaned forward to grab his beer. "She won't like you."

"She'll love us," Ani corrected. "Kier, did you get an ashtray before you lit up?" Kjiersten shook her head. "Vince, go find one."

"Why me?" he exclaimed, stopping his hand midway through his hair to fling it out in a "what the hell" motion that left his hair looking messier and unrulier than it already did. He always looked like he hadn't shaved in a day and a half, too, and no one could quite figure out how he managed to look that way permanently.

"Because I'm already settled," Ani nodded as if she was bestowing great knowledge upon him. She then leapt back to sit on the floor where Kjiersten's feet would be if she was sitting normally, leaned back against the couch, and grabbed a beer from the case sitting by the side of the couch. "It's your house, too. Start earning your keep or I'll find a new husband. There's probably already a line outside. You know how I have to beat the men off."

Vince flipped the curly-haired redhead off before pushing himself up and leaving the room. Kjiersten carefully aimed her smoke at Ani's head, but Ani seemed to sense this move coming and leaned forward to put her beer on the coffee table just as Kjiersten blew out. Josh laughed as Vince came back in with an ashtray, and Kjiersten stamped out her cigarette.

"Thanks, Vince," she mumbled. "What's the first movie?"

"The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre," Ani supplied. "A classic."

"With the world's dumbest ending," Josh and Kjiersten said in unison. They high-fived and turned towards the doorway when they heard the clicking of heels on the tile of the hallway.

"Hey," Josh nodded at the tall, thin brunette entering the room. "Guys, this is Gina. Gina, this is Ani," Ani waved without turning from the TV screen because she was trying to switch it over to read the DVD player, "Vince," Vince flashed a peace sign before snatching the remote from Ani, "and Kier."

"Hey," Kjiersten smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"You, too," Gina smiled. "There room for me here?" Kjiersten sat up a bit so her feet weren't covering the next cushion, and, although she hesitated, Gina sat down. "Thanks. Josh has told me a lot about you." Ani mumbled something about not hearing anything about her, but only Kjiersten heard and had to bite her bottom lip to hold in the laughter. "You know, I heard all about how I'd be meeting Sten at this party, then he'd tell me stories about growing up with Kier, then all about the trouble he used to get into with KJ, then showed me bios about Kursten Hansen, the female crabber, online. I thought I was meeting six people tonight!" She started to laugh, but it died awkwardly when no one else joined in.

"It's said Keersten, actually. Not Kursten." There was a tense pause after the correction where Gina's smile faltered and Josh shot his best friend a sideways look, so she forced a smile and continued. "Norwegians. We can never make it simple!"

"Kjiersten. Got it," Gina smiled again, leaning her head on Josh's shoulder. "What movie we watching?"

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre!" Ani grinned excitedly. "Followed by The Beyond, a hotel on a gateway to hell. We've got some good shit lined up." Gina glanced at Josh, then smiled hesitantly. She didn't quite share their love of gory old horror flicks, apparently. Kjiersten reached back and grabbed a beer, then handed a second to Gina. Josh's girlfriend took the bottle and studied the label carefully as Kjiersten used her hand to pop the cap off of hers. Vince made a face at the move, and Josh shook his head. The guys really hated when she and Ani did that.

"Budweiser?" Gina asked. Kjiersten nodded as she took a gulp. "I don't think I've ever tried the regular kind. I've only ever had Bud Light."

"You've missed out on an essential part of American life," Ani shook her head, looking around for the DVD player remote. "That's the stuff to drink."

"I'll take your word for it," Gina mumbled. "Do you have a bottle opener?"

"Use your hand," Ani shrugged, locating the remote. Gina looked to Kjiersten for help, but she and Josh were busy silently waging war over who got full use of the pillow halfway between them both.

"Um…well…I just got my nails done yesterday…and is that even safe?" Gina wrinkled her nose.

"It's not," Vince shook his head. "Here." He tossed the opener at her, but Gina missed and squeaked as it narrowly missed her face.

"Fail," Kjiersten smirked, and Ani mumbled something to herself as she found the remote and hit play. Gina shot a glare in Vince's direction and picked up the opener.

"Thank you, Vince," she said properly as she carefully tried the smallest sip she could. Kjiersten and Ani shared a look and turned their attention to the movie. This one, like all the others, wouldn't last long. They could tell.

It wasn't too long into the movie before they were all laughing. All but Gina, at least. The old effects and now-cliché plot weren't scary to the four friends, just funny. They had seen too many scary movies to be truly scared by this, although Kjiersten would always list this film as one of the best horror movies out there. She couldn't focus on it nearly as much as she wanted tonight, though, because Gina was trying to cuddle up to Josh and subtly edge her legs off of his lap. A line needed to be drawn. She casually tapped Ani's shoulder and motioned to where the couple was deeply engrossed in a whispered conversation, Gina's hand on his knee.

Ani rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. "Hey, Gina? How'd you like the beer?"

"Huh?" she pulled her head away from Josh. "Oh, it's…it's okay, I guess. It's stronger than I'm used to."

"That's because you drink shit. Fix that, Josh," Ani ordered. Josh opened his mouth to protest, but he changed his mind.

"Whatever," he finally grunted. "Let's just watch the movie, okay?" He absently rubbed Kjiersten's knee, and she suppressed the urge to look at Gina's reaction. She didn't need to look; she could feel the glare she was getting. It didn't make her feel all that smug, so she didn't have the satisfied grin on her face that Ani did. She hated it when Josh's girlfriend didn't fit with their group. She wanted to see him happy, she really did, but it needed to be the right girl. And if she had to be that filter, so be it. Maybe Gina would come around; it was possible. Not likely, but possible. She _wanted_ one of these girls to work out. Josh deserved as much. She just wanted him to find the right girl, but he had yet to bring that girl to meet her.

Right now, this girl needed to know where she stood. She might be the girlfriend, but Kjiersten was the best friend. That's the way it was. Gina would have to deal with it or pack it in.


	4. Chapter 4

*****Thanks for reading and reviewing! This one's a bit longer, mostly because things are getting crazy busy now and I don't know when I'll get the next chance to post. Term papers, tests, and work…*sigh*. Of course, I own nothing but Kjiersten and this box of delicious crackers I'm devouring.*****

The Elbow Room was already full by the time the Northwestern crew got there. About two steps into the loud, smoky bar, Kjiersten realized that she was in a rare position of power. Edgar, Matt Bradley, and her dad were blocking most of the crowd from seeing her, but she could just see between Matt and Norman enough to notice that Josh had his back completely turned on her. His brother was off sitting with the Hillstrands in the corner, so she wouldn't even have to deal with Jake right now.

"This is too perfect," she grinned, and Norman frowned at her.

"Do I want to know?" She pointed at Josh, still engrossed in his conversation with Freddie, and her dad rolled his eyes. He had learned long ago not to come between Kjiersten and Josh, especially when they had an elaborate plan that involved the pain and suffering of the other. Nothing could stop them.

It wasn't often that she got to sneak up on Josh; most times, he was the one coming from behind to scare the shit out of her. She didn't want to waste the opportunity, but if she acted too slowly, someone was bound to call her name and blow the whole scene. Freddie saw her as she breezed up behind Josh, but other than his initial glance, he kept his focus on giving Josh tips on how to pick up girls. From what she could tell, it was no surprise Freddie was still single, and she hoped the topic came up again, juts for shits and giggles. Right now, though, she had work to do.

In one swift motion, she looped her ankle around the leg of Josh's tall bar chair, pulled it back, threw her arms around his neck, and leapt up into his lap. He yelped, barely managing to keep his beer from spilling. She grinned and planted a kiss on his cheek before stealing the beer out of his very hand and taking a long sip for herself.

"Hey, Josh!" Edgar grinned from the bar. "Never knew you screamed like a girl!"

"Now, hey," Crosby piped up from the corner, "be fair. He's not used to girls sitting on his lap."

"Hey!" Josh started to defend himself to Edgar, decided better of it, and whirled on Crosby. "Hey. Don't even, man." He pointed menacingly, but Kjiersten grabbed the hand and used it in her favor instead. She pulled his arm up in the air and shouted for a drink over the growing volume of the room. When the waitress, a girl she didn't recognize, came over empty handed, Kjiersten sighed sadly.

"Budweiser," Josh explained, frowning as she finished off his beer. "Make it two." The girl nodded and headed off. "You know, not everyone automatically knows what you drink, KJ."

"Everyone _here_ does," she pouted. "Or _should_."

"Sometimes, they do this crazy thing where they hire people. I know you're not used to that because you've worked with the same people for 4 years, but new employees aren't mythical beings like Santa and unicorns."

"What?" Freddie piped up finally. "Unicorns aren't real? No one told me this!"

"Aw man, look what you did!" Kjiersten smacked Josh's chest. "You just ruined Freddie's childhood!"

"I was gonna raise 'em and everything," he shook his head, grabbing his beer. "You kids have fun." They waved as he headed off.

"So, lookin' forward to your season?" Josh asked as the waitress brought back their drinks. She immediately took a sip before answering.

"We're getting a new cameraman, I guess. So he'll be here tomorrow for us to torture. Should be entertaining."

"Be nice. You guys are intimidating; cut the poor guy a break." She rolled up the sleeves of her crimson henley shirt and then raised her eyebrows at him over the rim of her glass.

"Yeah, whatever. Now, how's your season looking?"

Josh shrugged and stayed silent, taking the first sip of his new drink. She always went through them faster than he did. Kjiersten gave him a half-smirk and ran her hand through his hair. "Joshie, c'mon. It's either that or you tell me what Gina's saying about me."

He grimaced at the table top but shook it away. "The season, huh? It's…still weird. Derrik's coming in to be our relief captain, so, you know. We'll see how that goes. Weren't we talking about you?"

"Kjiersten Hansen, if you're not over here in one minute, we're coming to get you!" Johnathon Hillstrand announced from across the bar. She laughed, patting Josh's chest as she slid to her feet.

"Later?" Josh nodded and raised his drink to his lips, so she grabbed her nearly-empty glass and started weaving through the bar. It was never easy for her to travel through a group of fishermen. Between a halfway gone Lynn thinking he stood some sort of chance, Mike Fourtner trying to avoid his ex as she got herself and Andy Hillstrand more drinks, and Kodiak Bill waving her over to check on his favorite Hansen, it was like running an obstacle course to get to the Hillstrand's table.

"What do you douchebags want?" she grinned, sitting on Andy's lap so she could slide across and squeeze into the empty space between him and Johnathon.

"Aw, you could have stayed there, honey," Andy insisted, but she laughed and shook her head.

"Chris is best friends with our producer; Don used to work on your boat, remember? I know and love her too much to play that game."

"Yeah, dude," John waved his brother off, "back up. She's clearly mine."

"Hey!" Scotty held his hands up. "Dad!"

"And by mine, I mean that she belongs to my son to love forever."

"Obviously," Kjiersten rolled her eyes. "Should we bother telling my dad about this plan, Scotty, or are we just eloping?"

"Hey, Norm!" John bellowed. Norman turned from the bar where he was talking to Sig and Edgar, who also turned to look. "My son's marrying your girl. Cool?" Norman shrugged and turned back to the bar. "That's an ok. That was an ok, right?"

Kjiersten laughed and slid back onto Andy's lap to get out. He grabbed her waist, but she mimed dumping her drink on his head, and he squirmed to avoid it. She used the opportunity to wiggle out. "You know I hate kids, Scotty."

"You love my boy!" Scotty insisted.

"That's not the kid I'm talking about."

She walked away to the chorus of groans, laughs, and jokes at Scotty's expense. She slid next to Sig, ordered two more Budweisers, dropped one off with Josh as she passed his arm wrestling match with Crosby, and slid into the seat next to Jake Anderson.

"Hey, Junior. You're lookin' a little lonely over here."

"You're not. You've been running all over this place," Jake motioned to the bar. "Hard to imagine anyone wanting to talk to you over me, but…" he shrugged and took another gulp of beer.

"Believe me, if I could switch my popularity for yours, I would." Jake laughed. "Seriously. Go talk to people. Maybe they'll leave me alone for a little."

"He is talking to people, KJ."

She froze at the voice behind her. A glance across the bar told her that Josh was too busy taking on his next opponent to help her out here. Shit. Jake clinked bottles with the person she still couldn't bring herself to look at. She sent another look at Josh, wishing she could send him a message across the bar. What use was being best friends if they didn't have a psychic connection?

"Hi, Jake," she finally grunted, turning from the Jake that felt like a younger brother to the Jake she wanted to hurt. Jake Harris. The only person that made her so mad he could illicit a physical reaction. She knew he wasn't all that fond of her either anymore, but they had both perfected their acting. Jake Anderson was completely oblivious about the mine field he'd just been flung into.

"Jake says you're getting a new cameraman. Sounds entertaining."

"A barrel of laughs," she nodded shortly. "But we'll live. How's your trip looking?"

"Same old. It'll rain and we'll catch crab."

Uh-huh. What was it with these Harris boys? She shot another look at the still-oblivious Josh. "Sounds fun. Think your relief captain will work out?"

Jake's face darkened slightly and he shifted his gaze to the tabletop. "I dunno. You know how it is. We'll see where we're at in a month."

"You guys could be full owners and have your licenses and all soon, right? Won't need to worry about relief captains," Anderson pointed out. Harris shrugged again.

"Could." He took a big gulp of his water and pointedly focused on the tabletop again.

"Could," Kjiersten agreed. "How're you and Josh get along?"

"Like brothers."

"You're on his case every two seconds, aren't you?" she smirked, sipping her drink.

"Maybe he's the one getting on my case," Jake snapped. "He's not so damn perfect, you know."

"Woah, hey, she didn't mean it like that," Anderson cut in. She sipped her beer to hide her smirk because, yes, that was exactly what she meant. Jake was always trying to pull rank on the boat since he'd been on just the slightest bit longer than his older brother, and, as far as she was concerned, it was invading the rest of their lives and had been for years. It felt good to put him in his place every now and then, even if it was subtle and passive-aggressive. Josh had asked her to stop going at Jake, and she was doing her best to respect that. It was more her genetics than faulty willpower that kept her from completely letting up on the younger Harris.

He glared at her. "Why don't you let her defend herself? You've always thought he was better than me."

"I don't think he's better than you," she rolled her eyes. "I think you need…"

She jumped as Josh's hand came out of nowhere and snatched her beer just as she was reaching for it. It appeared that her earlier sneak attack had not set a precedent for the evening. He always could scare the shit out of her easily. "Walk with me." He wasn't happy, that much was clear, but it was hard to tell if it was something she'd done or an issue with someone else. She took his outstretched hand and let him lead her outside, watching forlornly as he handed her drink off to Edgar on the way out.

"Think you could go one night without getting on Jake's case?" She shrugged, which made him smirk.

"You know I try."

"I know you try to be a bitch." She faked insult, which he laughed at. "C'mon, try to cut him a break, huh? It's not like you're the most amazing. Word is your back to smoking full-time again." She knew he was disappointed that she had broken her promise to only smoke in extreme situations, but he kept the joking tone in his voice instead of letting that disappointment show. "You told me you were quitting."

She looked away, not feeling right looking at Josh right now. She'd let him down. "I know, Josh. I just…I mean, you know how it is. I slipped up. I'm trying. You know what it's like on the boat, and it doesn't help that everyone else is puffing away like fucking chimneys. I'll do better. Okay?"

"Here." She took the pack of electronic cigarettes he held out to her. "Don't lose them this time."

"Did you use these, Josh?" she asked with a grin. He shrugged and placed a hand between her shoulders to lead her back inside. "That's gross."

"You love it. C'mon. I'll buy you a drink."


	5. Chapter 5

*****Thanks for reading and reviewing. I always love feedback! I lucked out and got some time to write this weekend, so here's the result of that. Hope you enjoy.*****

Norman started as he looked up from the hydraulics to see a camera pointed right at him. He leaned around to see Kjiersten signal for the next pot to come up. "Scuse me," he mumbled, motioning the new cameraman aside. "Can't see what I'm doing."

"Oh, sorry." Norm started the crane, stopped it, and snapped his head around to actually look at the person behind the camera. It was hard to tell under the hoodie, baseball cap, and bulky windbreaker, but after studying for a moment, his brain put the pieces together.

"You're a girl."

"Yessir, last time I checked. Dana Camden," she nodded, reaching out a hand. Norm frowned at it but didn't shake it.

"Fuckin-a, Dad! Ass in gear!" Norman smirked when Kjiersten's shout startled Dana. This could be fun. He started the crane up again and mentally inserted the curses he knew his daughter was uttering, making this more entertaining. This was one of the few families in the world where cursing out your parents didn't get you in trouble.

"What's so funny?" There was that damn camera again. He slumped to see the pot reach Kjiersten safely, but the moment where he thought he would crush her had wiped the smirk off of his face.

"Nothin'. 'Scuse me. Again."

"Sorry. Again." Norman shrugged as Kjiersten sent the crane back down. "I heard from Don that you don't talk much. Can I ask why?"

"You can ask."

"But you won't answer, right?" Norm lifted one corner of his mouth briefly and dropped it. Smart girl. They were quiet for a bit as Jake hooked up the next pot for him to bring up to Kjiersten to secure. "Ok, let's try this. What's your family think about your daughter working on the boat?" It was a harmless question considering the family atmosphere they cherished about the Northwestern, but his mind didn't travel to his brothers. Instead, a shock of curly platinum blonde hair, blight blue eyes, and the most brilliant smile he had ever seen flashed through his mind. Norm's hand slipped on the hydro controls as he fought against the image.

"DAD!" Kjiersten shrieked, and Jake let out an incoherent shout as he moved towards the stack in an admittedly-impossible effort to help her. Dana whipped her camera around as the pot swung dangerously over the top of the stack. Kjiersten scrambled so she was hanging onto the sides of the stack, preferring a dip in the harbor to being bashed in the head by a pot.

Norman scrambled for the controls and pulled the pot away from the stack as Kjiersten crawled around and hopped onto the deck. She and Jake carefully walked around the pot while he stabilized it and lowered it back to the deck. "What the fuck, Dad?"

"Sorry." He shot a look at Dana, and the brief move was all Kjiersten needed.

"Who the hell are you?" she snapped, crossing her arms and fixing the camerawoman with that Hansen glare. Jake shrunk back a few steps, a wise decision on his part, and let the two women have their stare-down.

"I'm Dana, your new cameraman." She shook the camera gently to add to her credibility, attempting to hide the defensive tone in her voice. Making enemies wasn't particularly high on her list, especially on her first day with the crew. "You must be Kjiersten."

"Must be," she nodded curtly before turning her back on the camera, dropping the glare, and reaching for her dad in a move that was oddly concerned and comforting considering the anger Dana had just witnessed. "You alright?"

"Fine," he nodded. A normal family would press the matter, double check, or at least ask if he was sure. Not in this branch of the Hansen family, though, Dana noted. That one word was enough for Kjiersten.

"Let's get back to it, then," she nodded, turning back to the pots.

"Later," Norm shook his head. "Edgar's gonna take over."

Kjiersten frowned at him. "Ooookay? Isn't he-"

"Make friends," Norm motioned to Dana. "He'll be out soon." Kjiersten opened her mouth to say something, but he was inside before she could get any words out. She looked at Jake, but he could only offer her a shrug, as confused as she was. So, she turned to Dana.

"What the hell just happened?" she snapped at the new camerawoman. Dana shook her head helplessly.

"I have no idea. I was just asking him questions. I don't know what…I don't know."

Kjiersten frowned at the door her dad had disappeared through. "Something happened," she murmured. After a moment of pondering, she shook her head and turned back to Dana. "So, you're the greenhorn, huh?"

"Yes, I am," she nodded. Kjiersten nodded, frowned again, and then grinned at the sight of Matt Bradley and Nick Mavar coming back from their shopping trip. "Tell me you brought cookie dough ice cream back!" she exclaimed, breezing by the woman without a second thought. She hopped the rail to go through the bags, which Matt rolled his eyes at.

"You bet I did. You know I always get your stuff." He passed a bag over the rail to Jake. "They didn't have any mint chocolate chip, though, so I got extra cookie dough."

"Works for me!" she grinned, tossing a bag of bread over the rail. Nick grunted, climbed over the rail, and picked up the bag.

"Be good to the wheat products," he insisted. She stuck her tongue out at him, earning herself a noogie from Matt. Matt hopped the rail to take the last bag from her, leaving just her and Dana on the docks. Kjiersten frowned, not sure when this new chick had come up behind her. She didn't need any more ninjas sneaking around in her life.

"So, uh," Dana paused to heave her camera more comfortably onto her shoulder, "do you have any pointers for me? Girl to girl?" Kjiersten must have looked at the camera because she added, "Off record." Even so, Kjiersten waited for her to turn the camera off just to be sure.

"You want some advice?" She looked to the deck where Sig and Edgar were listening to Norman's story. "Stay out of the way. Don't be an idiot. And keep that fucking camera out of my dad's face or it'll become my job to make your stay as uncomfortable as possible. Got it?"

Dana took a step back as Kjiersten turned her back on the greenhorn and hopped back on the boat. She watched as the Hansen girl joined her family, made some gesture back at the camerawoman, said something to Norm, rolled her eyes at his answer, and headed back to the stack. When Dana clambered back aboard, still not at the mastery level that Don and the crew were, Jake was the only one to even glance her way; even that was cursory and dismissal.

They worked in relative silence other than the occasional shout for directions. Edgar, Jake, and Kjiersten made it a point to cut Dana out, keeping their back to her and brushing off her questions. She looked helplessly to Don when he hopped onto the deck like he had been doing it his whole life, but he was about to wage the seasonal battle with Sig about where the captain's camera would be and had no time to dig her out of the hole she had fallen into. In fact, he didn't notice the problems on deck until he came into the wheelhouse to find Norman and Sig shaking their heads and muttering in Norwegian.

"You," Sig pointed at him, giving him the Hansen glare that he was all-too-familiar with. Then, he pointed out the window. "Deal with her."

"What did she do?" he frowned, craning his neck to look at the deck. They had just finished stacking the pots; Jake was heading in to help shelve the groceries, and Edgar and Kjiersten were leaning against the rail to look out at the water as she vented about something or other.

"Doesn't matter," Sig shook his head and glanced at Norman. "My _niece_ is not going to pull another duck and cover because of something _she_ said. Neither is anyone else. You got it?"

Don sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The camera war would have to be waged later. Right now, he had to find out what the hell was going on. Sig haled Dana into the galley so Don could talk to her, leaving Kjiersten and Edgar alone on deck.

"I can't believe they assigned another camerawoman to the fleet. What the fuck?"

"It worked on the Time Bandit," Edgar shrugged, brushing something off of his sleeve into the water.

"That only worked because Chris and Andy are the most amazing couple to walk the earth. You can't reasonably expect anything like that to happen here, unless _you_ plan on falling in love with her."

He laughed and gave his niece a playful shove. "I think I'll pass. Honestly, though, I'm surprised we didn't get Chris to start with, seeing as we've got you and all."

"You know what?" Kjiersten grumbled, running her hands through her hair hurriedly. "I love the girl, but I'm glad we didn't. Girls fuck shit up on boats."

"Can we think about that statement for a minute?" Kjiersten whacked him in the stomach as he laughed at her. "Seriously! Especially considering how well Chris is doing, shouldn't you be Dana's #1 One fan right now? If she hadn't fucked up…somehow…I mean."

"No way. You guys are used to me, and I know what I have to do to get by on the boat. You don't realize all the female shit I keep under wraps for you guys."

"Oh yeah?" he challenged with a smirk. "Like what?"

"You do realize that once a trip, _minimum_, I bleed from my vagina for about a week right?"

Edgar lurched. "Could you…no, hey!" He regained his composure and gave her the pointed look he gave when giving orders. "Don't use that word again. Not while I'm…alive."

"What, vagina? Somehow, I think the slang might be worse, Uncle Eddie."

Edgar glared but silently decided she was right. "Just watch your mouth, and never refer to…that…again. Ever. As for whatever point you're making, no, it never occurred to me."

"Exactly. I keep it totally under wraps out of respect for you guys. I have a plan. She won't even think of that stuff."

"Well, teach her. Show her the ropes."

"I will for some things. But so much is just second nature. I don't think about it, or you guys are used to me doing shit that will suddenly be really awkward from her. I'm in a position to have a lot of freedoms taken away here! I may never be able to strip down to my cami in the wet room again!"

"You do that now?" Edgar frowned at her.

"Exactly," Kjiersten pushed herself off the rail and headed in to find her dad. She threw a hand up in the air halfway across the deck and announced, "This is gonna blow."


	6. Chapter 6

*****Well, since I was up most of the night anyway, I wrote some more. Hope you all enjoy. As always, thanks so much for reading and reviewing, and I obviously own nothing to do with Deadliest Catch. Would I be writing this stuff otherwise?***  


* * *

**

Dana was absolutely exhausted, but the work showed no sign of letting up anytime soon. Of course she had been briefed on how intense a crab season could get, and Don had just lectured her the other day about the dangers of being on deck during long hauls, but she had no idea her body would feel this run-down while they were dumping the very first string. It felt like her very bones ached, the camera adding an extra ton on her shoulder, but the crew was running around the deck like elementary school children, as if they hadn't been out for the past six hours.

Edgar laughed as Kjiersten used a spot of water to slide up to him and fake a punch to his chest. He retaliated with a fake elbow to her stomach, and she recoiled as if he had actually made contact. She narrowed her eyes playfully and came back with a karate chop to the throat. He clutched at his neck and stumbled a few steps until he felt his foot hit the coiler, sank into a crouch, and dropped down to his knees.

"You got me, Tyke!" he announced in a gravelly, pathetic voice. "Tell Sig…"

"Tell him what?" she crouched so she was next to Edgar, ear cocked towards him.

"Tell him…I love…his wife."

"That's enough!" Sig's voice cracked over the hailer. "We've still got 20 pots to get off this boat!"

"Uncle Sig!" Kjiersten turned towards the wheelhouse, and Dana couldn't help but smile at the rosy-red blush across her cheeks from the cold wind coming off of the water. The girl was truly the beauty of the family, even if she was bulked and layered to the point of hiding all signs of womanhood at the moment. She had those glittering deep blue eyes, the narrowed chin, and the same high forehead of her family. They looked good on a woman, Dana decided, even if that woman was a complete bitch. "Come on! Give us time to mourn!"

"Yeah!" Edgar piped up. "Let them mourn my fucking death! Have some compassion!"

There was a pause as Sig presumably laughed at his family. "They can mourn when the pots are gone. Deal?"

Edgar and Kjiersten flashed thumbs-up, and she gave her uncle a hand to pull him to his feet. Dana was standing next to Norman at the hydro controls, but instead of questioning him, she pointed the camera at Jake on the bait station.

"Is the deck always like this?"

Jake looked up with wide eyes, like a deer in headlights. He focused on the camera and smiled, the shock gone as quickly as it came. "This? Naw, no way. Enjoy the jokes while you can; we'll be at each other's throats in a few hours."

* * *

"Fuckin-a!" Kjiersten swore as a crab grabbed her thumb. She swung her hand and flung the poor creature onto the deck as her dad and uncle laughed at her. She flipped them both off and went back to sorting, muttering under her breath. Edgar stopped laughing instantly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," she muttered, looking up at him with only her eyes.

"Didn't sound like nothing," he insisted. She shook her head, sucked in a deep breath, turned her eyes back to the table, and let out her air as she shoved a few females aside. "What did you say?"

"I didn't say nothing. Drop it."

"Kjiersten," Norman said sternly. She stopped what she was doing at that point and snapped her head up to meet her dad's glare with an equally defiant one. They matched gazes for a minute until she finally broke and went back to work. Dana looked back and forth between the two of them and Edgar, but it seemed that whatever had just passed was done and behind them. The rest of crew fell silent during the exchange, but Matt broke the silence by holding up one of the larger crabs.

"Look at this one!" he announced. "Hate to see a man like this go without a fight."

"That one put up enough fight for both of 'em," Kjiersten smirked, motioning to the troublemaker on the deck. Jake laughed at that as they went to their positions for the next pot.

Kjiersten grabbed the hook, waited for Sig to pull up to the next pot, and snagged the line. Dana winced as the buoys caught on the camera she'd mounted on the pulleys, but the crew didn't give her the shit she expected. Edgar helped Kjiersten fight with the line until it was in the coiler, and they went back to work as if nothing had happened. She turned back to filming with the distinct feeling she had just dodged a bullet. They put the pot in the dogs, and Dana lined up so she could get a good shot of the pot dumping onto the table.

"Woah," Kjiersten held a hand up, and the pot didn't budge an inch. "Not here." She shook her head at Dana and pointed to a spot on the side of the table. "Film over there. If the dogs slip and you're standing here, you'll be a pancake."

"Sorry," Dana mumbled, shifting to where Kjiersten had pointed.

"You didn't know," the girl shrugged, waving her dad on. "Every greenhorn does it at some point."

Sure enough, three pots later, the dogs _did_ slip, and Dana was glad she had been corrected earlier. The crew all let out shouts and yelps as they jumped away from the table, and Sig was immediately on the hailer.

"What the fuck was that? Get your fucking heads in the fucking game or someone's gonna end up dead out there!"

Edgar shot a withering look in Sig's direction before helping to right the pot. Crabs had been crushed, and tempers had flared, but this seemed like something fairly routine on the Northwestern.

"We need to fix that one day," Edgar told Kjiersten, who grunted in response. They'd been saying that for years, and you could see just how far they'd gotten with the project.

A few hours later, they had set a full string over one of their successful test strings, and the crew headed inside for a well-deserved break. Matt had slipped off deck a bit earlier to get some food going, and the galley smelled like sausage when Dana walked in. Everyone was stripping off their raingear in the wet room, and she followed their cues. Kjiersten pulled her hoodie and t-shirt over her head and reached for the bottom of her underarmor, but thought better of it. Instead, she grabbed her top two layers and dumped them on the floor in the galley before plopping into a seat.

"Dad?" she called as Norm walked by. "Could you grab me a shirt?" He nodded, picked up her clothes, and headed into their stateroom. He re-entered the galley a few minutes later in a clean variation of the sweats-and-hoodie uniform of a crabber and handed her a grey Cornelia Marie tee that she promptly threw on as Matt set a plate of sausage and toast in front of her. "Yum. Thanks, Matt."

"Anything for you, sweetheart," he nodded. "Everyone else has to get their own."

"Stop hitting on my niece," Edgar scolded as he helped himself. "It's creepy."

Dana marveled at the family atmosphere in the room, not just among the Hansen's but with the whole crew. In a different setting, the way Kjiersten smacked Jake's arm could have looked flirty, the glare between Matt and Nick would have seemed threatening, and the scolding from Edgar would have seemed condescending. Here, though, it all seemed to fit. It was all part of some big puzzle that clicked into place. She noticed, though, that Norman never seemed to join in. He sort of floated on the outside, with only the occasional gesture from his brother or daughter to bring him into the conversation until he let himself drift back out. This man didn't seem to belong, like the piece that doesn't quite look right even though you know it's in the right place.

Eventually, the crew drifted off to their own areas of the boat. Most went to sleep, but Kjiersten filled a plate with food to take up to Sig, and Edgar and Norm followed. Edgar had wheel watch next, and Norm was looking forward to a break from the studious gaze of this new camerawoman. He felt like he was under a microscope when she was around, and it wasn't a feeling he particularly liked.

"Eat up," Kjiersten ordered, shoving the plate under her uncle's nose. Sig took it and the cup of coffee Edgar handed him without looking up from the water. Edgar stole the extra chair, Norman sat on the bench and leaned back against the wall, and Kjiersten sat next to him so she could rest her head on his chest. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and rested his head on top of hers.

"How's it feel out there?" Sig asked between mouthfuls.

"Like a storm's coming," Edgar grunted, running a hand through his hair. "Way too calm."

"Wind's pretty fast," Norman agreed.

"What d'you think of Dana?"

Edgar snorted. "She's coming along. Slowly, but she's getting there. Couple rookie mistakes, but nothing crazy bad. Yet."

"She stares at me. A lot. It's weird," Kjiersten wrinkled her nose. "You, too," she added, rolling her head up to look at Norman. Norman and Edgar nodded.

"I think she's just trying to take it all in. Figure us out," Norman suggested.

"Or she's creepy."

"KJ," Sig scolded. "Claws in."

"I'm being nice! I haven't done anything to her!"

"You threatened to make her life a living hell before we even left port," Edgar pointed out. "But, you were good with her on deck today."

"I only threatened her because she upset Dad," Kjiersten rolled her eyes. "Which he _still_ won't explain to me."

"Nothing happened," Norm insisted in a tone that implied he had said this dozens of times. "Forget it."

"Dad," she raised her eyebrows, "come on. What'd she do? I'd like to at least know why I hate the chick."

"Hate?" he raised his eyebrows right back at her. They shared a look for a long, silent moment, broke, and went back to the position they'd been in before. Edgar and Sig smirked at their brother and niece, always amazed by their silent conversations. While Kjiersten might swear and yell like one of them, she was truly her father's daughter, and it was never more evident than in moments like this.

"I'm gonna go get some sleep," she muttered, gently pushing herself off of Norman's chest. "See you losers later."

"Takes one to know one!" Sig called after her, chuckling to himself. Edgar smirked and stood up, motioning for Sig to get out of his way.

"She's got the right idea. You two go get some sleep so someone can kick me out of this chair in a few hours."


	7. Chapter 7

*****Same disclaimer as always.*****

Kjiersten studied Dana carefully as the greenhorn adjusted the camera she'd mounted on the crane. It had been getting in their way every time they dumped pots, but this was the first time she'd ever seen one of these documenters notice when their slick camera tricks just didn't make the cut. She sipped her coffee slowly, watching as the woman below struggled to break the camera free of the weather-proof mounting she'd so carefully set up before the season started.

If she had to guess, she'd put the woman around mid-30s, maybe slightly younger. It was hard to judge, really. She knew didn't personally look her age most of the time, the price you paid out on the Bering. Maybe Dana had her own story. She smirked at that thought, wondering what this woman could possibly have endured.

Dana hadn't bothered to throw her hood up or even pull her hair into the standard ponytail, so her shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair was blowing around in the occasional breeze. It looked good all mussed up, Kjiersten decided. She had almond-shaped hazel eyes that were always scanning, always looking around as if she expected something to jump out at her. She looked strong, too; not as strong as a crabber, but certainly able to hold her own in any other situation. She was taller than Kjiersten, but only by a few inches, and she lacked the muscle to boast that she was bigger, not that she would have tried. Overall, Kjiersten had to admit that she was attractive. A pain in the ass, but a cute one. She wouldn't win any beauty pageants, but she had this natural glow to her, this aura of confidence that Kjiersten respected. She didn't particularly like the woman, but she did have a grudging respect for her.

"Stop staring."

Kjiersten smiled as her dad set a fresh cup of coffee in front of her just as she finished off the one she'd been nursing her whole watch. "I'm not staring. I'm assessing the enemy."

Norman glanced at Don, who was asleep in the chair, and cracked a grin. "She's not the enemy. Maybe if you took the time to know her."

"I don't think so," she shook her head. "She has to prove herself first. I'll get to know her after I know I can trust her."

"Um…think about that one…" Norm made a face, and Kjiersten laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But, hey, she still hasn't atoned for her crimes, and until she does something marvelous, I have to keep that in the back of my mind."

Norman sighed and sank onto the bench. "She didn't do anything wrong. I just overreacted."

Kjiersten snorted at that and sipped her coffee. "Overreact? Dad, you barely _react_ to shit. Hell, I practically thought she was pregnant with your baby or something, the way you acted."

"She asked what my family thought about you being on the boat." He let that comment sink in for a minute, either for impact or so he could collect his thoughts. "Probably just meant Sig and Ed, but…my head went…you know…"

"To mom."

"Yeah. To your mom."

Kjiersten looked back out to the deck, but Dana was gone. The wind was picking up again, blowing a storm front their way. It was only a matter of time before Sig kicked her out of his chair to go haul and reset the pots they were coming up on. She wrinkled her nose at that, not looking forward to the grind ahead. She hated when they had to work their asses off to get all the pots reset before a storm. Sig would be on their cases the whole damn time.

"But she didn't bring her up, you know. I just…it reminded me."

"I know," she murmured out at the water. "Would've done the same to me. I think about her a lot. I can't remember her much, you know?"

"You were young," Norm nodded, glancing warily as Don stirred. It was hard to tell if the producer was waking up or not, but he felt safe enough to continue. "Five years old. Doesn't feel that long ago."

"I remember the day, though. The day she died. I remember that. I still have the stuffed elephant Uncle Eddie bought me at the airport."

Norman chuckled. "Ye-ah, our flight was delayed, and he didn't really know what to do. Lord, what'd you call that thing...Ella…Bella…?"

"Bellie. Bellie the Ellie-phant," Kjiersten corrected with a sing-song voice. "And I've resewn her trunk 8 times over the years. Take her with me whenever I travel."

They both knew to end the conversation as Don rubbed his eyes swung his hand out until he found his camera. It was their unwritten rule to never talk when one of _them_ was touching a camera. They both turned back to the water, lost in their own thoughts. Don looked between them, looked at his camera, and heaved a sigh. So much for that.

* * *

Edgar let out a whoop as Dana stepped back, foreseeing what would happen next. There was no deck under her foot, only air, and she yelped as she went down. Her arms smacked against the edges of the tank, stopping her from falling in completely, but the damage was done. At first, she thought Edgar was the only one that noticed over the wind, rain, and waves whipping around them, but she had no such luck. Even in the middle of the storm they were in, the crew noticed when someone did something stupid.

"Beer!" Matt announced through the rain, pumping his fists in the air. "First round's on her!"

She laughed it off and grasped the hand Norman offered to very ungracefully haul herself out of the tank. "Thanks. That was terrifying."

"That," Norman smirked, eyes glinting at her under his hood, "was nothing. Make sure you check for bruises later."

"Y'know? I think that's the most you've ever said to me," she grinned, checking her camera for damage. Norman shrugged and offered a smile before heading back to the rail. Kjiersten wasn't on the hook this string, but instead of just switching with someone, the whole deck had shuffled to accommodate so Edgar was on hydros and Norman was on hook instead.

"So," Dana propped her camera back on her shoulder and approached Kjiersten at the rail where she was waiting for the next pot, "why aren't you on the hook today?"

She shrugged and grabbed the pot as it came over the side, making a face at the mediocre haul. "I'm a delicate flower, and my uncle doesn't want me on the hook in storms. Thinks I'll get washed overboard."

Dana paused to wipe rain off her lens before prompting, "Which Uncle?"

"Pick one," she grunted, guiding the pot onto the dogs.

"What does your dad think?"

Kjiersten made a face, finally done with this camera business. "I dunno. Go ask him yourself. I'm kinda busy right now." Matt and Nick both snorted at that but kept their focus on their sorting so they didn't make eye-contact when Dana shot a look at them.

So, that was exactly what Dana did. She carefully made her way around the table to Norman and pointed her camera at him. He glanced at her, looked back at the table, snapped his head back to the camera, looked back at the table, and sidestepped away.

"Oh, no," she shook her head. "Come on! One question! I promise!" He shot her a sideways glance and stayed silent. "Norman Hansen! I'm not going away so you better just talk to the damn camera already!"

He felt eyes on him and met Edgar's taunting look with the Hansen glare. He used it so rarely that, combined with the few years he had over Edgar, the youngest Hansen looked away with just a smirk on his face. Kjiersten, however, kept glancing up at the exchange; he knew she wished she could hear what was going on, but she was too focused on listening for Sig's warnings over the hailer. With the wind and rain as loud as they were, she could only focus on one. No matter how protective she was of him, she wouldn't risk everyone's safety over it.

"Fine," he consented. "What'd'ya want?"

"Why pull Kjiersten off the rail in storms?"

He opened his mouth to talk, looked over at her, sighed shortly, and looked back at Dana. "S'not altogether safe, is it?"

"Why not?"

"Rail's the most dangerous place on the boat," he explained, spreading his legs to get better balance as a smaller wave washed over the deck. It wasn't enough to knock anyone over, but it made Jake stumble a bit as he headed back to the bait station so they could dump the pot back. "Can't see waves 'til they're right on you. If anyone's gonna go over on a boat, it's the one throwing the hook."

"So why let her throw at all?"

"You try telling her 'no' sometime," he grinned, glancing over to where his daughter was flipping off Jake for struggling a bit with the buoys at the coiler. In his absence, they'd stuck Junior at the rail, and she loved to tease him for every little mistake. "You have kids?"

"I…" Dana stopped and stepped back at the sudden role reversal. She didn't like questions coming back her way. "N-no. I don't have kids."

Norman nodded to himself. "They're a pain in the ass. You love 'em to pieces, but there are times I'd love to shove her overboard myself."


	8. Chapter 8

*****Sorry I'm not updating as quickly as I did for my last story. I wish I could post every two or three days, but between school and work, I'm doing what I can. Hope you enjoy this post, and I'm sure you know the disclaimer.***  
**

* * *

Dana took a small sip of coffee and immediately made a face. The Hansen's made it entirely too strong; she normally drank it black, but this stuff was too much for her. With a sigh, she pushed herself away from the table and forced open one of the cabinets to grab a packet of half-and-half. She'd seen Kjiersten tease Jake for using them before the crew went out for their 23 hour grind, so Dana was particularly thankful the crew was asleep.

That was only part of the reason, though. She was still bothered about what had happened earlier. She understood now how a simple, harmless question could set someone off. Norman's reaction about his family's opinion that started her season on the wrong foot had been put in complete perspective now. She'd known going in that she was coming into a very family-oriented boat, but she'd never thought past what that would mean for her to fit in and be accepted. Not once had she considered what the multi-generational crew would actually be like, how they would interact with each other.

Dana was staring blankly at her coffee, watching the creamer swirl as she spun her spoon around and around in the mug, when Norman came in to grab a cup for himself before taking the wheel. He hesitated at first, hanging back in the shadows, but he walked in when he saw that she didn't have her camera. She didn't even glance his way, which was probably a better way to get his attention than anything else. He sent several glances over his shoulder as he poured himself a mug, then slid onto the bench next to her. That snapped her out of her trance, and she snapped her head around to face him.

"Shit," she laughed nervously, "you scared me!"

"Sorry. I do that."

"You're pretty sneaky," she grinned into her coffee, hoping to hide the embarrassed blush spreading across her cheeks. "I'm sorry."

"For?"

She frowned at him, but he sipped his coffee and ran his thumb along a worn chip in the table. It was nearly impossible to tell if he seriously didn't know why she was apologizing or if he just wanted to make her say it. "For asking about your family. I didn't realize it was off-limits."

He smirked and took a long sip. Then, he put the mug on the table and wrapped his hands around it, staring at the black liquid inside. "It's not off-limits. It was a good question. I just took it the wrong way."

"Can…I ask how?" He glanced at her with raised eyebrows. "And get an answer, I mean."

He chuckled to himself. "Made me think of my wife, 'sall."

She waited for him to say more, but he just stared at his coffee and kept perfectly silent. Dana licked her lips, started to ask something, thought better of it, took a sip, put her mug down, and tried again. "That's a bad thing?"

"Not usually." He fell silent again. Just as she decided not to push the subject, he leaned back against the wall and grunted in that way people have when they're about to talk. "It's been a long time, you know. I'm normally fine. Sometimes things just make me think of her, how she'd be now, what she'd do, and I don't…handle it as well as I should."

"When did you two split up?"

Norman raised his eyebrows and finally turned to look at her. "Spli…" he stopped and fought to contain his smile, but failed. "Split up?" She looked around to see what joke she'd missed. "Hanna and I didn't split up."

"So…wait…I'm confused. What happened?"

He sobered at that and took another long drink of coffee. "She died. Car accident. Kjiersten was 5."

Dana was quiet for a minute. She never was good with situations like this. "Oh. I'm sorry, Norman. No one told me. I wouldn't have asked if…"

"It's fine," he waved her off. "I think I made up for it earlier. Right?"

"Excuse me?" she leaned back, but, of course, that did nothing to help her escape the patient look he was giving her. "You didn't startle me that badly, really."

"Not that," he half-smiled. "On deck. When I asked if you had kids."

"Oh…" she turned back to her mug and let a strand of hair fall between the two of them. It wasn't much, but that section of hair felt like a wall that could protect her from whatever he would send next. "Yeah. I…didn't really expect that. Your daughter's really something, you know? You can tell exactly where she came from, looks and personality."

"Yeah, she's the best thing in my life," he nodded. "Wait 'til you see her with her friends. Her and Josh in the same room…Harris, I mean…she's a spitfire. What's your story?"

"Who says I have a story?"

"Everyone has a story. You know about my wife. I've got a few more minutes before I go on wheel watch; if you want to tell me about you, well, I'm pretty good at listening."

Dana smiled at the last comment, but it was halfhearted and faded easily. "I never had any kids. I was married for a while, but it didn't work out. Certainly never would want to bring kids into that, you know? Too much fighting. But, uh, we thought about it. What couple doesn't, right? We tried for…so long. The doctor's said it was something like 1 in a 1000 odds that I could ever conceive."

Most people would have prompted her forward when she fell silent, but not Norman. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as he took a long sip of coffee but stayed completely quiet.

"So…yeah…I mean, any solid couple, no problem." She twirled her mug absently. "Not us. We couldn't hold it together after that." Norman nodded slowly. "You never ask questions."

"Do you want me to?"

"No," she shook her head. "It's a good thing. Just…anyone else would ask what happened."

"You'll tell me if you want to," he shrugged, pushing himself to his feet so he could wash his mug out. She waited for more but, of course, nothing came.

"Are you always this quiet?"

"No." Nothing else.

"When aren't you?" she probed, feeling the corner of her mouth tilt up of its own accord.

He shrugged and grabbed a towel to dry with. "I have my moments. Kjiersten's normally involved somehow."

"I can't imagine that. You're, like, the perfect family." That made him laugh.

"No. We're not. We're far from that."

"Well," Dana leaned back against the wall, "you're better than my attempt at a marriage, that's for sure." She fell silent for a moment, then added softly, "Not that a shitty husband is the same as having a kid."

"Can't really call her a kid anymore." Dana frowned at him. "Whether you want 'em to or not, they grow up. That's part of the problem sometimes, why KJ and I fight. I still see that little girl I was trying to bring up, keep forgetting she's 24 and can do it all on her own. She didn't have a mom; of course she grew up faster than she should. She had to. But when you forget that and try to treat them like kids…"

"They fight back," Dana finished. "Sucks, don't it?"

Norman chuckled. "Yeah. But at least there's someone to fight with. You have anyone now?"

"Now? I don't have much. Some friends and all, but not much family to speak of. A sister and in Fort Lauderdale, and my mom's in a nursing home near them. My family's not like you guys; we never needed to be that close."

Norman shrugged. "F'you say so. I've gotta go take the wheel."

She nodded at his retreating back until he disappeared up the stairs. In a few minutes, Sig would lumber down to get some food before heading to bed. It would take some time, though; Sig had to explain their course, and they had to have one of their brotherly chats consisting of a lot of grunting and short sentences.

She sat for a moment more, then pushed herself up, washed her mug, dried it, and put it away. As soon as she closed the cabinet, she spotted Norman's on the counter, which made her chuckle as she put that away, too. She was gone from the galley long before Sig came down, attempting to sleep away the weird feeling growing in the pit of her stomach ever since Norman sat down next to her.


	9. Chapter 9

*****Thanks for the reviews and, as always, for reading. My semester ends in a couple weeks, so I'll be able to write more then. Yay for summer break. Disclaimer: blahblah*****

* * *

Kjiersten made everyone jump with her squeal, but Dana was the only one who lingered on the situation. She watched as Norman's daughter ran across the deck of the Northwestern, abandoning her post at the edge of the tank to watch the offload so she could throw her arms around the man that had just hopped the rail. Norman smirked and shook his head, muttering, "Told you so," to Dana as he passed on his way to the wheelhouse to talk to his brothers.

Josh Harris lifted Kjiersten off of her feet and spun her around, setting her back down in exactly the same spot. Her enthusiasm made him laugh, which was mostly why he'd come to the Northwestern even though he knew they'd still be offloading. He could use a laugh.

"Look at you!" she grinned, rubbing his cheek gruffly. "You haven't shaved in forever. You know they won't let you fly home like this."

"Because I look like a terrorist, I know, I know," he rolled his eyes and ruffled her hair. "I don't miss this, you know."

"You love it!" she laughed. "So, I guess you guys are done?"

"Yeah," he nodded, looking down to where the Cornelia Marie was docked. "We're all squared away. Just wanted to come say hey, see how it's going. I should let you get back to work."

"Hey," she frowned, grabbing his hand as he started to back away. He let her gently pull him back to her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Josh," she warned, watching him intently, "I can tell when something's bothering you, and you're a shitty liar. Now, what's wrong? Are you pregnant?"

"You caught me. We'll talk when you're done, alright?" He sighed watching his shoes as he scuffed at the deck. She rolled her eyes at something off to the side, turned back to him, stared for a second, and then finally nodded.

"Meet me before you go to the Elbow Room. I don't think we'll be done before that."

"Deal," he agreed. "Did you know there's a camera pointed at us?"

"Is it Stupid Bitch?"

"If by Stupid Bitch you mean your camerawoman, then, yes, it is. I'm gonna bounce. Be nice."

"I'm always nice, Joshie," she forced through her fake, cheery smile. "You know me!"

"Yes," he laughed, hopping the rail, "I do. Be nice!"

* * *

"Did she threaten you again?" Norman asked as Dana watched Kjiersten dance to music only she could hear in front of the mirror. She started at his voice, clutching at her chest as she turned to face him.

"Do you always have to sneak up on me like that?" she insisted.

"Sorry."

"No, it's…don't worry about it. And she didn't really threaten me, no. She just told me to never film her and Josh or to submit what I filmed today. She sounded very pleasant about it all. Which is probably what was so terrifying."

"Yeah, she doesn't like being filmed off-duty," he nodded as his daughter finally relinquished the mirror. She was in the only pair of jeans she brought to Dutch, dark and skinny to fit under the black thigh-high boots she still hadn't zipped yet, and she had a black lacy cami on for the moment until she could find a suitable top. Her hair was in a loose, messy ponytail, and she had just finished putting her make-up on so she looked natural, a concept Norman could never grasp.

"Shirt," he ordered as she squeezed by him and Dana. She flashed a thumbs-up as she slipped into their stateroom. "You were waiting for the mirror?" Dana laughed.

"No, not me," she shook her head and absently ran a hand through her hair, which she'd been wearing curly this trip. Normally, she made it pin-straight, but there was no time or reason for that out here. Instead, she let it dry in the natural curlicues she used to hate so much. Even tonight, going out to meet the rest of the fleet for the first time, just didn't seem worth the effort. She'd come to terms with her hair on this trip. She'd also come to terms with the fact that she'd completely forgotten all her make-up, but was far from admitting just how high-maintenance she really was to the seasoned fisherman. "I was just watching her dance. It reminded me of…she's a cute girl, you know. Scary, but cute."

"She's not that scary. Just…private."

"Care to elaborate?" Dana laughed, rubbing her arm absentmindedly. He shrugged, picking a fuzzy off of her dark grey wrap top. She used the moment of silence to adjust the bottom of her shirt so it flowed better over the top of her faded boot-cut jeans instead of getting caught on her belt.

"Doesn't like being filmed off the boat, like I said. She doesn't really like being filmed at all, but she loves what the show does for the industry and she knows she has unique appeal, so she takes it. But when she's not working, she wants her privacy. And she doesn't like her loved ones being uncomfortable with the cameras, either. Her friends Ani and Vince came up to meet her one season, and she threatened to castrate Don if he filmed them. It's just how she is."

"She probably would have, too," Dana nodded thoughtfully.

"Castrate him? Oh, hell yeah," Norman nodded.

Dana was about to ask him something, anything, to keep them from settling back into the silence that always followed him, but Kjiersten chose that moment to emerge from the stateroom. And Dana had to admit that, despite their differences, she smiled when she saw the young lady in front of her. She had zipped up her boots, pulled her hair into a sleekier, tighter ponytail, and put on a royal blue t-shirt dress with a chunky black belt around the waist and the lacy black cami peeking out from the deep v-cut neckline. Around her neck was a delicate silver scroll-work K necklace that Sig had given her on her 21st birthday.

"What'd'ya think?" she asked. Dana almost answered, almost told this girl she was constantly butting heads with that she looked beautiful, too beautiful to just be going to a bar with a bunch of crabbers that had known her all her life and couldn't care less what she was wearing, but she stopped herself. Kjiersten wasn't asking her. She held her arms out and did a twirl for her dad, not for the woman next to him. Dana may as well have been invisible; even Norman wasn't paying attention to her as he smiled at his daughter.

"You look beautiful, hun," he nodded. "Too good to be seen with your old man."

"Daddy," she grinned, stepping forward to plant a kiss on his cheek, "you know you've got that backwards. You're too good to be seen with me. Look at you, getting all dressed up." She motioned to his standard pair of Levi jeans and grey fleece pullover. "Who're you trying to impress?"

"Very funny," he nudged her arm with his elbow as Edgar appeared in an outfit almost identical to his, except in dark green.

"Hey, Tyke, Josh is here. You not heading down with us?"

"I'll meet you," she assured her uncle. She kissed her dad again and gave Edgar a big hug before grabbing her bag. "I want to catch up with him before it gets all loud and crazy. Call if something awesome happens."

"Will do," Edgar assured her. "Say good-bye to Sig, huh?" She flashed a thumbs-up and disappeared up into the wheelhouse. She wrapped her arms around her uncle's neck as he studied some paperwork.

"Loosen up, Uncle Sig," she ordered, planting a kiss on his temple. "Everyone's leaving soon."

"I'm ready. Don't I look ready?" he raised his eyebrows at her. She laughed and let go of him.

"You look like you haven't changed from our offload. Oh, right, that would be because you haven't. At least wear a shirt that doesn't have the Northwestern logo on it. Please."

"What's wrong with the Northwestern logo?"

"You have other clothes. Change!" she ordered. "I'm running out with Josh; see you later tonight."

"You kids have fun," he waved, turning back to his papers. "We'll see you later."

"Bye, Uncle Sig!" she grinned, planting a kiss on his forehead before she left. He laughed to himself as he watched her hop down the stairs. That niece of his always could put a smile on his face.


	10. Chapter 10

Kjiersten ignored the conversation between Dana and Norman in the galley as she hurried outside. Josh was waiting on the docks, and she expertly hopped the rail to be by his side. She wrapped her arms around his waist and he draped one over his shoulder as they headed in the opposite direction of the bar.

"You gonna tell me what's bugging you?" she asked. He sighed and rested his head on top of hers as the Wizard crew headed past them.

"Derrik called the police on Jake when we docked."

"He _what_? Why?"

Josh shook his head slowly. "Heeee…thought Jake was using again, I guess."

"Well…" she paused to collect her thoughts. Now was not the time to say the wrong thing, which was easy for her to do when Jake was involved. "Was he?"

"They didn't find anything."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"You think I don't know that?" Josh barked, tearing out of her arms. He stormed a few steps away, stopped himself, and bounced his leg a few times as he debated his next move. She had seen him like this before, too many times, and every time broke her heart. Every time his hands went to his hips, he turned his back on her, he yelled at her, it was all she could do to give him his space. She always wanted to run to him, make him look at her, make him face the emotions he tried to bottle up, but she never did. Josh had to deal with things on his own terms.

"Have you talked to Jake about it?"

"No," Josh shook his head, back still to her. "No, he left a couple minutes after the police did. He's not using again, KJ. I know what he's like when he's on that shit, and he hasn't been like that. There were some times when he was a little off, you know, not quite Jake, but it wasn't drugs. We were all off our game this season. It wasn't…" He stopped as she gently turned him towards her. "It wasn't drugs."

"Josh, who are you trying to convince here?"

"He's been doing really well since he got out, Kier. He won't even eat fucking rum cake, that's how hard he's trying."

"I know."

"No, you don't. You're always ragging on Jake."

"But since he got out of rehab, even I have to admit that he's been working really hard to turn his life around. It's easy to doubt him right now, but you know your brother better than anyone. If you really think he's innocent, that's all you need. People are going to make a lot of assumptions about him because of this, and he's really going to need you on his side. You guys have come a long way in the past couple months; don't let this ruin all of that."

"But I don't _know_, Kjiersten. I don't really know if he was using again or not. I don't know who I hate more for that; him or me. I want to believe he was just trying to deal with not having dad on the boat, but….fuck," he ran both his hands through his hair and turned away from her again, "I have no idea."

"You could try talking to him."

"Yeah, cuz he'll give me a straight answer."

"Maybe if you promise to keep your temper in check…and actually do."

"You're a big help, thanks," he shot at her. She held her hands up defensively.

"Just saying." He turned back to her and took her hands in his, playing with the ring she was wearing. He'd given her the silver band with the aquamarine heart set into it for her 16th birthday, and she rarely went without it when she wasn't working. She wasn't a big fan of jewelry, but she was a sucker for anything with her birthstone in it, especially if it came from someone she cared about.

"Sorry. You know I'm not mad at you." She nodded. "I don't know if I'd believe him even if he really is staying clean. After everything that's happened, I'm not sure how much more of this I can take."

Kjiersten studied Josh's face for a moment, then let her gaze drop to their joined hands when she couldn't handle how broken he looked anymore. She watched as he fiddled with her ring, letting his body heat keep her freezing fingers warm at least for the time being. "Well, I could always talk to him."

"Yeah, right," Josh snorted. "That would be all kinds of bad."

"I'm better at staying calm than you are, and, as weird as it sounds, I think I can get an honest answer out of him."

"And then you'll report back to me? Like…make you my spy?"

"I never said I'd tell you," she shook her head. If she really felt that Jake was staying clean, of course she'd let Josh know. Right now, though, she still had her doubts. She wasn't about to have him waiting for an answer that she couldn't give him. She would not be the one to tell him his brother was back on drugs. "But, this way, at least one of us will know. It's better than being totally clueless, alright? You just give him the benefit of the doubt, and I'll try to get the real story."

Josh debated for a second, still fiddling with the ring around her pinky finger. He kept meaning to steal it off of her to get it resized, or just to get her a new one that was big enough to fit on her ring finger again, but something always came up. One day.

"Alright."

* * *

"Jake," Kjiersten slid into the seat Jake Anderson had just vacated. The younger Harris eyed her suspiciously, looked at how full her Budweiser still was, and scooted closer. She wasn't drunk, so she clearly had some other reason for talking to him. Josh had steered clear all night, not even looking his way. Everyone else was cautiously avoiding him; only Jake Anderson seemed alright with being near him tonight. The news had, obviously, already spread around the fleet.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I don't really see you having a choice. Walk with me."

"Kjiersten," he started to protest, but she had already handed her drink off to a passing Eddie Uwekoolani and was heading for the door. Jake called her a few unrepeatable names and followed into the cold Dutch Harbor night. "I really don't want to talk."

"I really don't, either. But Josh doesn't know what to do right now, so I told him I would help out. I'm doing this for him, not for you. I just want an honest answer, Jake. Are you or are you not using again?"

"I'm not!" he insisted. She put her hands on his hips and gave him the Hansen glare, a move that reminded him of his brother and of Sig all at once. He hated when she did that. "I swear to God, Kjiersten, I'm not using."

She studied him slowly, shivering in the cold breeze that he felt through his Cornelia Marie hoodie. He knew she had to be cold in only the short sleeves she was wearing, but if she was, it barely showed. Her hands dropped off of her hips, and she let them fall helplessly to her side.

"I have no idea if I believe that or not."

"Doesn't matter," he waved dismissively. "No one ever believes me."

"That's not true," she rolled her eyes. "Whatever you tell him, Josh will believe you."

"You're shitting me, right?" Jake exclaimed, laughing in disbelief. "Josh doesn't let me live _anything_ down. I can never do anything _right_! I'm just one big fucking disappointment to him!"

"You're not," she insisted, rubbing her forehead wearily. "He loves you _so_ much, Jake. He'd choose you over me in a heartbeat, and, this might be vain, but I think that's saying something." Jake shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets, but he secretly admitted that she was right; that _was_ saying something. "That's why I flip shit on you. He cares so goddamn much, and you put him through hell. I don't think you ever even gave a shit, either. You just did whatever the fuck you wanted and never once thought about what it did to him. You only ever cared about yourself."

"Save the bullshit, Kjiersten. I didn't come out here for a sermon. We all know you're goddamn perfect and I'm the world's biggest fuck up. No need to rub it in."

"That's not what I'm saying," she insisted, closing a few of the feet between her and Jake. "I believe that you're trying now; I really do. But I've seen you slip up in the past, and I know what that did to Josh. I don't think _you_ know, because I don't think you ever considered what you were doing to him back then. I never want to see him like that again. And…I never want to see you like that, either. You remember how we used to get along, back when we were kids? You used to be like a little brother to me, Jake, and I don't like the person you've become. I really want you to turn this all around."

"Look, I'm not doing anything. Josh is gonna be fine, you're gonna be fine, we're all gonna be fine. Don't worry about it." He waved her off and turned back towards the doors.

"Jacob Harris, don't you turn your back on me!" she snapped, and he froze. "You want to know what my problem with you is? It's that you don't give a fuck about anyone but yourself. Do you remember what you said to me a few days after you got that DUI?" He frowned and turned to face her. "No, of course you don't. I had been looking up rehab centers for weeks to find the best one for you, and you were pissed as hell at me for getting involved, remember that?" Jake hung his head and kicked at a rock. Yes, he did remember that; he remembered being furious that she was so involved in what was going on his life, that Josh was letting this outsider have so much control over _his _future. He'd made a lot of mistakes in that regard. "You remember getting fucked up one night and calling me to pick you up 'cuz you didn't want to deal with Josh?" That had happened so many times that he couldn't be sure which one she meant. "I was tired of having to save your ass every fucking time, and we had this massive fight about how you needed to let us help so you could turn your life around. And do you remember what you said to me? You said that I couldn't possibly understand what you were going through because my mom died when I was too young to remember her anyway."

Jake froze, eyes glued to his shoes. He definitely didn't remember saying that, but something in his churning stomach told him that he had. "Kjiersten, I didn't mean that. I was…"

"High. I know. That's the problem. Josh said almost the same exact thing to me, but he was pissed at you and upset about your dad and felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. And when you're hurting, you're mad at the world and lash out at the most convenient person; I get that and I'm okay with being the proverbial punching bag. But when you're so fucked up that you can't even remember saying something that makes me cry myself to sleep, something I can't even tell my best friend about because it'll make him want to beat the shit out of you, _that_ is when we have a problem."

"I'm sorry! I didn't…I didn't know." When he looked up at her, her rant caught in her throat. He looked like he was on the verge of tears, and she had seen too many Harris tears in the past year. She refused to be the cause of any. "I'm sorry."

"No, Jake," she shook her head and took one of his hands, "that's not the point. That's in the past. Look," she mimed grabbing something out of the air between them, crumbling it in her hand, and tossing it in her shoulder, "it's gone. The point is that I want to believe you've turned around. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you're never putting Josh or me through that hell again."

"I'm not using again, Kjiersten. I swear to God. I was tired this season, that's all. I was tired because I _was_ clean. And because Dad wasn't in the wheelhouse. That's all it was. I swear to you."

She held his gaze for a long time, long enough that he started to feel uncomfortable. Finally, she dropped his hand and stepped away. "I believe you."

That was all she needed to say for him to feel a wave of relief wash over him. She disappeared back inside, but he needed to stay out in the cold for a few more minutes. It was a weird feeling to be believed in.


	11. Chapter 11

Kjiersten folded her arms across her chest and wished that she had listened when Norman told her to wear a jacket. She'd obediently thrown her Northwestern jacket in the back of Josh's sleek black Infiniti, but had no intention of actually wearing at the time. Now that the friends were far from the car, and consequently the jacket, she really wanted it.

Josh rolled his eyes and dutifully wrapped his arms around her from behind, letting her relish in his body heat and the warmth of his hoodie. She sighed and leaned back into his body, grateful for the gesture. Her arms were freezing even through her long sleeve Mariners shirt, and the crisp, biting wind that blew every couple minutes wasn't helping.

"Hey, Momma. We're back from kings, just came home yesterday. Dad's not here, but, uh, Josh came. You came with me here after last opies, right?" She rolled her head up to see him nod, eyes fixed on the stone. "Thought so. Dad never comes to these. I'm not even sure he knows I come after the season."

"I'm sure he does," Josh supplied, sinking his head down onto her shoulder. "He's a pretty smart guy." Kjiersten snorted.

"He is," she agreed. "We had a weird season, Momma. Never could get solid numbers, funky weather…we had this new crew member, too. A camerawoman. Dana Camden. I don't like her." Josh watched her twirl her ring. "She's pretty. I think Dad likes her; Uncle Eddie doesn't really have an opinion yet. She didn't really do anything either way, you know? But Uncle Sig said she's coming back, didn't do anything stupid or dangerous so he wants to keep her around, see what she's made of in opies. I don't know. I don't like her."

"You said that," Josh smirked. Kjiersten elbowed him lightly. "Just pointing it out. Mrs. H, your daughter is really mean to me."

"He deserves it," she retorted. "You should meet his girlfriend."

"Don't start," Josh rolled his eyes.

"Oh, come on. She hates me, Momma."

"She doesn't hate you," Josh sighed, gently swaying her back and forth. "She just doesn't get you. You've only met her once; give her a shot. Gina's a really great girl, but you both take a little getting used to. Just cut her some slack, huh? I think you scare her."

Kjiersten smirked. "I'm not scary."

"You're terrifying," he corrected, tucking her hair behind her ear so it stopped blowing in his face. After returning his hand back around her waist, he continued. "You were having a bad day when you met her, so you have to admit that your opinion was skewed."

"It was," she agreed. "Which is why, for your sake, I'm giving her another shot with this lunch thing. I'm not giving her any more time than that. "

"Hey, I'm glad for what I'm getting, and she's not hanging out with us after lunch. I'm not fucking with post-season traditions."

"See, Momma," she grinned at the tombstone, "I trained him well."

"She didn't train me," he insisted. "I'm just a good friend."

Kjiersten laughed. "Yeah, whatever, Joshie. Let's just get this over with; I want 'us' time, not 'us plus Gina' time. The sooner we do this, the better."

"Be nice," he ordered, letting her out of his arms and shoving his hands in his pockets. She put her hands in her pockets, too, shivering in the breeze, and let Josh get a few steps ahead.

"I'll see you again soon, Momma," she promised. Josh turned back when he realized Kjiersten wasn't beside him and watched as she kissed her hand and then rested it on the stone for a moment. She'd been pushing him for months to visit his dad's grave, but he'd kept putting it off. Seeing her like this made him think that maybe he should swing by someday soon.

* * *

Kjiersten tugged on the bottom of her Mariners shirt and licked her lips as she looked around the restaurant. Gina was showing Josh something on her phone that was apparently too important to wait until later, giving her maximum time to realize just how out of place she was.

If Josh had told her about this lunch sooner, she would have made more of an effort to look nice, but she could hardly blame him. He looked just as bad compared to the other diners. Gina must have sprung it on him, too. When he'd swung by Norman's house to wake Kjiersten up from the dead sleep she fell into after a crab season, he told her that Gina was insisting on having a decent lunch, just the three of them. No Ani, No Vince, no Jake.

She'd chosen a modern bistro where every diner, minus Josh and Kjiersten, was obviously stopping in for their lunch break from a high end office with their suits and laptops and briefcases. Gina seemed to fit right in, donning a pair of hip-hugging khakis and a berry red cashmere sweater with a white peacoat draped over her chair. Her chocolate hair was pulled back in a loose bun held with a pair of black chopsticks, and seeing that made Kjiersten run her fingers through her own blonde locks in a desperate attempt to look like she'd at least run a brush through it that day. In her loose-fitting unisex Mariners shirt, baggy jeans, and work boots, she knew their rather dapper-looking waiter was passing more than a few judgments about her. The only consolation she had was that Josh was in a pair of paint-stained jeans and work boots, too. At least they were being judged together.

"So, uh, Gina," she faked a smile and swirled her water with her straw, "how've you been doing?"

"Huh?" Gina frowned, looking up from her phone like she'd forgotten Kjiersten was sitting across from her at the little round table. "Oh, well, you know. I've been keeping busy, waiting for you all to get back. I had no idea how stressful it was to just sit around waiting."

"Well, opies is longer," Kjiersten shrugged, frowning at the chicken wrap the waiter placed in front of her. "But Josh is always safe on the boat, so you really shouldn't worry."

"Yeah, no one's going to send me hanging over the Bering any time soon," he smirked, and Kjiersten flipped him off. As soon as she remembered the setting, though, she threw her hands in her lap and bit her lip to keep from laughing in embarrassment. Sig was right- she couldn't go anywhere nice.

"Wait…what?" Gina frowned between the two friends. "This some kind of inside joke? Josh, you know I hate…"

"No," he held a hand to cut her off. "It's not an inside joke. Kjiersten just had a close call this season. That's all."

"We were stacking our pots on the boat and my dad lost control of the crane for a minute, so the pot was swinging around and I had to hang off the side," Kjiersten shrugged. "Could've been a lot worse."

"How much worse?" Gina asked, the hint of panic in her voice not going unnoticed by either crabber. Kjiersten turned helplessly to Josh, not sure what she had thrown them into, but he was more focused on Gina at the moment.

"You know what it's like," he said gently, placing a hand over hers on the table. She immediately pulled her hand away. "There are dozens of freak things that can happen."

"But Josh is one of the safest guys on a boat," Kjiersten insisted again. "I'd trust him above anyone else out there."

"Yeah, and I'm sure that has just so much to do with fishing," Gina snapped before turning back to Josh. "I knew what you did was dangerous, Josh, but you never told me that hanging out over the water was considered one of the safer parts!"

"It's not like that, Gina!" he insisted.

"Can we back up for a second here?" Kjiersten held her hand up, but she respected Josh enough to bite her tongue when he shot her a look. This wasn't about her, so she would just wait it out.

"Oh, like you don't know _exactly_ what I mean," Gina snapped right back, but Josh turned her back to him before the girls could go down a road he really didn't want them to travel down right now. "Tell me what it's like, Josh. Tell me it's safe out there and that I shouldn't be freaking out every day you're gone. Look me in the eye and tell me that, because I'm not going to be some sad, pathetic girl talking to a tombstone because someone I love was taken from me too soon!"

"Okay, now we _are_ going to back it the fuck up!" Kjiersten hissed before Josh could say anything. He sent her a pleading look but really didn't expect her to let that last comment drop; at this point, he knew he'd lost control of both of them. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I'm not sure I'm willing to sit around wondering if he's going to come back to me in one piece. I didn't know what I was getting into here!"

"Wait, are you breaking up with me?" Josh asked at the same time that Kjiersten snapped, "I'm not talking about that; you made that much pretty clear. I mean the tombstone comment. What the fuck was _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you heard me," Gina leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. "I don't want to be one of those sad girls in the cemetary. Like anyone wants to do that."

"Gina," Josh started, but Kjiersten interrupted again.

"_I_ do that. I do that a lot. Actually, Josh and I just came from 'talking to a tombstone'," she mimicked Gina's dismissive tone before letting her disgust show through. "I always thought I was talking to my mother, not the stone, but obviously you think otherwise. I didn't realize that was so pathetic to you."

"Look," Gina pulled her arm out of Josh's grasp, "I'm sorry about your mother. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna go recite poetry to a hunk of marble or anything. What you believe is totally up to you."

Kjiersten raised her eyebrows and leaned back in her seat. She was most like her dad when she was upset, and the silence she fell into was the best signal that she had been pushed too far. Josh hated when she went quiet in an argument because he was so used to knowing what she thought that not knowing bothered him. He did know, though, that the look she was giving Gina would lead to someone getting hurt. Probably him, since he'd be honor-bound to get in the way when she lunged across the table.

"Alright," he stood up in such a way that he kept himself between them, "this is over. Here." He fished out his wallet, pulled out some cash, and threw it on the table. "That should cover lunch. We're going." He grabbed Kjiersten's elbow and helped her to her feet. She lingered at the table, but he edged her towards the door. "And, Gina?" He studied her face for a moment. "Did you break up with me?"

"No," she shook her head. "No, of course I didn't."

"Okay, then." He cracked his knuckles and heaved a sigh. "I'm breaking up with you. Consider this over. C'mon, Kier," he took her elbow again and headed for the door, "Let's get out of here."


	12. Chapter 12

*****In case I don't get the chance to post before then (which I hopefully will), have a Happy Easter! Eat too many marshmallow peeps and jellybeans. Have a blast.*****

Norman chuckled to himself as his daughter's face filled his tv screen. This episode was a couple season's old, and she was complaining about greenhorn Jake. He briefly considered continuing to flip around for something to occupy his evening, but decided an episode or two couldn't be all that terrible. It's not like Kjiersten was home to make fun of him for it, anyway. He picked up his beer and frowned to see that the bottle was empty.

"Figures," he muttered, lumbering into the kitchen for a fresh bottle. He grabbed a Budweiser and was just turning back towards the living room when his cell phone rang. The number was unfamiliar, but he risked it and answered anyway. "Hello?"

"I've been watching Deadliest Catch all day, and I've seen you talk once. Once, Norman. Glad to see it wasn't personal!"

"Dana?" he frowned, pulling his phone away to stare at it. After shaking his head of a few ridiculous ideas, he put it back to his ear. "How'd you get my number?" He thought for a moment, then added, "It was Edgar, wasn't it?"

"Wild horses couldn't drag the answer out, Norman. I have my sources, just accept that."

"Are you drunk?" he smirked.

"I had a quarter of a Corona two hours ago, decided I didn't like it, and switched to Mountain Dew. Other than a wicked caffeine rush and a bit of a sugar high, I'm fine. But, I'm bored. Are you bored?"

"I'm mostly just confused right now."

"I have that effect on people," she laughed. Norman rolled his eyes as he sank back into his chair and muted the TV. "And don't roll your eyes at me either."

"Sorry."

"S'okay. A little birdy told me you live in Seattle, correct?"

"I do. This the same bird that gave you my number?"

"Ummmm…that's a possibility." He chuckled at her energy. "Now, I _also_ happen to be in Seattle, _and_ I know of a cute little Italian place with the most amazing pasta, owned by these brothers that came over from the old country, no lie. It's amazing. We should go."

"Are you…" Norman frowned at his unopened beer. "Are you asking me out, Dana?"

"Might be. You coming? Because I might have presupposed your answer and already made reservations. Think you could be ready in, say, an hour?"

"Please tell me he didn't give you my address, too."

"Don't worry," she laughed. "But it's Seattle; I'm sure I can be there in an hour."

"What makes you think I'm alright with this?"

"You haven't hung up yet."

"Are you always this forward?" he grinned.

"Only with the strong, silent types. I love it when guys avoid me like the plague. Now, gimme your address."

"No," Norman shook his head, "we should at least do some of this right. I'll pick you up. Do I have to dress up for this?"

She laughed. "Find jeans without fish-gut stains, okay?"

He had to admit, as strange as the situation was, he was glad Dana called. Even though he wanted Kjiersten to have her own life and was glad his brothers had family and friends to come home to, nights like this made him feel alone. And when he was alone, he really missed her. He had come to terms with Hanna's death long ago, or at least he thought so, but being all alone in the house on a cold night with nothing but a bottle of beer and the television for company sure made her absence strong.

Dana lived in the left half of a duplex with no obvious dividers other than two garage doors right next to each other in the double-wide driveway. He parked at the curb to avoid her housemates, who were on the lawn either in the middle of a domestic dispute or a simple heated debate about their broken taillight. Dana didn't give him the time to decide whether he should maybe intervene on the woman's behalf, even though she looked like she could easily handle the stick of a man she was snapping it, because she came jogging down her steps quickly and passed by the couple without even a sideways glance.

"Sorry about my neighbors," she announced as she plopped into the passenger's seat of his truck. "They're the most adorable couple you'll ever meet, but once every six months they have the fight to end all fights for the whole of Seattle to witness."

"Should we call someone?"

"Like, the police?" Dana raised her eyebrows as she pointed out the turn he needed to take. "Nah, they're harmless. I've never seen them lay a hand on each other. Sweet kids, really." She glanced over her shoulder at nothing in particular and motioned to the next turn, which he dutifully took. "Now, um, much as I love you humoring me like this…you sure I'm not interrupting some father-daughter time here? I didn't mean to pull you away from Kjiersten or anything."

He chuckled. "No, no, she's hanging out with Josh tonight. They do this thing when we get back from fishing where they check their messages and e-mails and stuff. She's gone for the night."

"And you just let her spend the night at his house like that?"

"You don't know how it is with them," he shrugged. "Kjiersten doesn't really have girlfriends. There's one, Ani, but that's it really. Josh is her best friend; they've been through hell and back together. I trust him."

"Do you trust her?"

Norman raised his eyebrows and pulled his truck into the first spot he saw. It was a good thing he liked Dana, because this place was barely more than a sign on the side of a building. Closer inspection showed that they had to walk around back to get in or else they'd have to cross through the bar. Normally, that sounded like a great plan but, in clean jeans and the new pull-over Kjiersten had just bought him to "add variety to his dull and boring wardrobe" with a strawberry blonde on his arm? He wasn't about to put on a show.

"She's not the one I'd be worried about if I was worried," he insisted, holding open the door to both be gentlemanly and to give himself a good view of Dana's legs. Despite his utter lack of interest in the fashion world, he knew what looked good when he saw it. And that black tank-top dress with the rose-patterned skirt? He liked that. "But I'm not. They're good kids with good heads on their shoulders. And Josh knows who he'd have to deal with if there was any funny business."

"Funny business?" she smirked as the hostess led them to their table. "Is that what the kids call it nowadays? Because we used to just, oh…thank you," she slid into the chair he pulled out for her and took her menu from the hostess. "Just water for me."

"Same," he nodded, and the woman left them to their own devices in the corner of the quiet, dimly lit room. He had to admit, the place was cozy, and the two 40-something Italian men lingering in the front having a good laugh that managed to look like a fight was somehow comforting.

"Anyway," she continued. "Funny business. We just used to call it sex back in the day."

"Geeze, Dana!" he hissed, checking over his shoulder to see if anyone had overheard. Content that they hadn't, he spun back around. "Why don't you say it louder next time?"

"Oh, lighten up, Norman. You're right; Kjiersten _does_ have a good head on her shoulders, and I think it's great that she has a guy she can just go to, no questions asked, and not have all those stupid things to worry about, like if the lighting makes her look wrinkly."

Norman chuckled. "The lighting doesn't make you look wrinkly. And compared to me, you're practically a kid."

"Practically. But not," she shook her head and casually flipped through her menu. "There's, what, 10 years between us? Give or take a few. That's hardly anything in the grand scheme, isn't it? I'm thinking the gnocchi with butter thyme sauce. Sounds perfect right now. You?"

"I…um…" he flipped open his menu. "Haven't looked yet."

"Don't make me order for you," she teased. "Who's the man on this date?"

"Hey, now, I picked you up, didn't I? It's not my fault you got yourself all sugar-high and set this thing up!" he defended. When the waitress came with their drinks, he ordered the first thing his eyes landed on and just prayed he pronounced it right to the girl. He could tell by the way she talked and laughed with the men up front that they were all related. A family business. He had to respect that.

"I hold nothing against you," she shook her head. "I'm actually really glad you agreed to come, and not just because I know you'd never ask me out yourself."

"Excuse me?" he challenged.

"Oh, c'mon, like you _ever_ would have made the first move. We were either going to dance around this next season or get it out of the way now. Either tonight goes great and Discovery realizes they can never put a camerawoman on a boat with any potentially unfaithful men, or tonight sucks and we have nothing to worry about. That's not the point. The point is that you saved me from drowning my sorrow in beer I don't even like, devouring an entire meat lover's pizza, and watching Deadliest Catch until 2 in the morning."

"What happened?" He anticipated her lie that nothing was wrong and gave her the even, steady gaze that made Kjiersten and his brothers all squirm until they confessed everything.

"I mentioned I used to be married, right?" He nodded. She stabbed her pasta harshly and popped it into her mouth. For a moment, she was lost in the delicious food, but she snapped back. "We were a damn good couple when we first got married. When we found out I…couldn't conceive, though, it broke us. Well, I _can _conceive, but it's damn unlikely. Nate came from a big family, so having kids was really important to him. I felt like I'd let him down somehow, and he never tried to convince me otherwise. I mean, I know he didn't want me to feel that way, but at the same time I know he was disappointed. There was nothing he could say that I wouldn't see right through, so he just didn't say anything at all. We tried for a while, you know, to pick up and carry on. But…" she shook her head, "we couldn't. And we lost it. He's remarrying now, with my old college roommate. They want me to come to the wedding. The split was so mutual, we keep acting like we're friends through all of it, but I really just want to forget about that whole period of my life. If I could completely erase my 20s, I would. He keeps calling to convince me to come to the wedding, even if I won't be part of the bridal party, which I fucking won't," she stabbed her pasta forcefully. "I shake off the calls eventually, but I'd rather shake it off by eating pasta-goodness with you than drinking alone."

"Does he call you often?" She shook her head and took a content sip of water, but he didn't feel nearly as calm about all of this. "He shouldn't be calling you at all. You need to do something."

"There's nothing I _can_ do. We're supposed to be friends; it's not his fault I need to erase him to move on. I've looked into restraining orders, but our split was amicable so there's no legal reason, and it would be silly; he'd never hurt me. We just didn't work out, and most of the time, things are totally fine. It's not a big deal." He shifted in his seat to explain why exactly it _was_ a big deal, but he couldn't quite make words come out when she put her hand on top of his. "Really. I don't want to talk about it. The point of tonight is to forget all that. I'm sure you have some shit you'd like to forget, too. We can talk about all that stuff some other day, huh? Just not tonight. Deal?"

Norman licked his lips. He had a delicious-smelling plate of food in front of him and a beautiful woman across from him, two things that he had no business having. He could enjoy it for one night, right? Forget being Norman Hansen, Kjiersten's dad and 1/3 owner of the Northwestern. Tonight, would it be so bad to just be Norm, the guy treating Dana Camden to a really great meal?

"Deal."


	13. Chapter 13

"Alright," Josh put his phone on his coffee table and plopped onto the couch next to Kjiersten. "You ready for this?"

She laughed and took another swig from her bottle of Bud. "I hate this part."

"Me, too," he agreed. The worst part of the crab season was when they got home and turned on their cell phones. It was especially hard now, knowing that there would be at least a dozen messages about the coffee business or the likes on Josh's phone and an equal amount about photo shoots and advertising work on hers. Neither one looked forward to this moment, so they had turned it into their own special pity party over the years.

"Okay," she slammed her beer unceremoniously on the table, "I think I'm just drunk enough to deal with this."

Josh laughed as she picked up his phone. He pried it out of her hands and replaced it with the right one. "I think you're a little _too_ drunk for this, actually. It's all about finding just the right balance between sober and not sober. Like me."

"Oh, please," she elbowed him and he threw his arm out to keep himself from falling over. "Yeah, you're _so_balanced right now, shit head. Okay, three…two…eeeh, okay, I can't!"

"No, no, c'mon!" he laughed, forcing her thumb onto the power button. "We do this right now." He laughed again and shifted so he could wrap his arm around her, practically pulling her into his lap in the process. "Fine, I'll do it myself." He forced his thumb on top of hers. "Three…two…one. Power on." Kjiersten squeezed her eyes shut as if that would keep her phone from joining Josh's in buzzing incessantly as it processed all the voicemails and text messages they had missed during the king crab season. "There. S'painless!" he slurred.

She pushed him again and started on her texts. Most were from Ani, wishing her luck, telling her she missed her, venting about fights with Vince, and the likes. Of course Ani knew she wouldn't get the texts promptly, but it made her feel good just to send them, and even inebriated, Kjiersten loved reading them. It made her feel connected, like she had been there all along. She immediately deleted the four texts from her ex, all spewing how much he missed her. Her cousins had texted, too; Mandy ordered her to come shopping, and Nina texted the funny quotes the family said. She smiled at those, glanced at Josh, saw him smiling, and craned to see why. He leaned to match her so she still couldn't see, and she hit his shoulder.

"No fair!" she whined. "I have texts from Ani and Mandy and Nina and Vince. What about yoooooou?"

"Just Gina. She texted a ton early in the season." He flashed his screen at her as if that would clear it all up. "You ready for voicemails?"

"No. But I'll _don't touch me!_" she squealed, instinctively recoiling from Josh's hand. "Ok, I promise, I'm ready. Let's do this."

"Three…two…one…" Josh and Kjiersten held their phones up to their ears. "I have 11."

"Fuckin-a," she swore, stomping her feet and shaking her head as if she was throwing a mini tantrum. "I have 7! No fair!"

Josh stuck his tongue out at her as they both listened. She skipped over the typical calls about appearances she wouldn't do and interviews she wouldn't give. Other than the Discovery events her family dragged her to, she hated public appearances and avoided them like the plague. Ani had called a few times, mostly to vent whenever Vince pissed her off. Her cousins had called, too, shouting "WELCOME HOME, COUNSIN K!" into the phone. It wasn't until the last three messages that she actually had something to take care of.

_"What the fuck is going on up there? I'm on the internet, minding my own fucking business, and I see that the fucking police were called to the fucking Cornelia Marie for Jake? What the hell are you people doing? You call me back the second you get this!"_

_ "Kjiersten. It's Ani. Again. Now I'm online, and I see Josh listed as single. What the hell is going on? You turn your damn phone and call me and tell me what you did! And what's going with Jake? I didn't forget about that in the two minutes since my last message."_

_ "Uh…hey. 'S Vince. Ani's freaking out here. Something about police and Gina? Did Josh's girlfriend get arrested or something? Cuz I didn't think she was that cool. So, yeah, my house is chaos, and my wife is psychotic. Please fix that. Soon."_

She laughed and tossed the phone on the coffee table, waiting for Josh to finish. His head rested in his hand so she couldn't see his face, but she could tell that his muscles were clenched. There were always messages about the businesses now that stressed him out. She brushed his arm with the back of his hand, but he didn't react.

"Gina left five messages since lunch," he grunted, tossing his phone next to hers and picking up his beer.

"Are you gonna call her back?"

Josh shot her a look. "You're fucking hysterical. I don't need to deal with that."

"You didn't need to break up with her today, you know. I overreacted a little. Apparently I do that sometimes."

Josh chuckled. "You do that a lot. I'm pretty sure it's genetic. And, for the record, I did have to break up with her at lunch. What she said was out of line, and you two would never be able to get along. In the end, I'm with you. Even if that means you make me break up with all of my girlfriends."

"I never make you break up with anyone!" she insisted, resting her head on his chest. "It's not my fault you date idiots."

"I do not," he rolled his eyes. "I don't know what your problem was with Gina. If today hadn't happened, she's not really that horrible, huh?"

"She's not me," Kjiersten shrugged, swinging her legs up onto the couch. Josh shook his head and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she burrowed her head further into his chest to get comfortable.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he smirked.

"It always means you can better…wait…let me try that one again." He laughed. "It means you can always do better."

"So, I should just marry you and put us all out of our misery?" he challenged. She laughed.

"I never said that."

"You kind of implied it, though, didn't you?"

"Leave me alone. Drunk right now."

"You're more honest when you're drunk," he pointed out. "Just admit it. You like me."

"Josh," she rolled her eyes and sat up, "when you're drunk, which y'are right now, you're an idiot. Just shut up." She laughed and ruffled his hair, but he ducked out from under her hand and grabbed his beer. After finishing off the bottle, he pressed on.

"That might be true, but I still know you. You totally said that you were into me. Just admit it!"

"Josh," she turned her head away, not amused anymore, "stop it. Just go get the stupid movie." She reached for her phone, but he grabbed her wrist and made both of them freeze.

"Kjiersten. Come on." The joking disappeared from his face, too, as he scooted up to rest his forehead on hers. "There's no point in hiding it anymore."

"I'm not hiding anything. I'm drunk and saying weird shit, and you're drunk and reading too much into it. Tomorrow we're not even gonna remember this happened."

"I'll remember," he insisted. The intensity in his eyes made her blush and turn away, but he cupped her cheeks in his hands and forced her to look at him again. "So will you. We both want this too much to forget."

Before she could say anything or try to pull her face away, he let his lips gently brush hers, and she completely forgot that she was fighting him about this. He let the touch linger for a second before bringing his mouth to hers again in a gentle kiss that deepened almost immediately as she grabbed his forearms to pull him closer. He let one hand slide from her face to tangle in her hair as he ran his tongue along her lips until she allowed him entrance. Her hands shifted to explore his chest, the longing and desperation of the kiss filling her senses until she couldn't take it anymore.

She used her hands to push on his chest until he pulled away. It was only then that either one of them realized the tear slowly rolling down her cheek. Josh reached a hand out to wipe it away, but she batted at his arm and stood up so quickly that she hit the coffee table and nearly fell. Again, he reached a hand out to steady her, but she was just out of his reach and managed to find her own balance. She grabbed her phone before righting herself, a few more tears rolling down.

"What's wrong?" He stood up, but she took a quick step back that made it clear he shouldn't try to get closer. "I thought…"

"No!" she squeaked and immediately threw a hand over her mouth to try to calm her voice through the tears. After a moment, she tried again. "Why the fuck would you do that?"

"Kjiersten, come on. You're right. We're drunk. We'll forget this happened tomorrow. Sit down, finish your beer, I'll put the movie on. It'll be like nothing happened."

"Something _did_ happen, Josh!" she insisted, waving her phone at him. "And we're _not_ going to forget it! And I don't know why you would do that or why you would even go there because we're drunk and it's not fair and what the fuck am I supposed to do about this? You can't play with people like that!" He started to protest, but she cut him off. "You are! You always are! Either you're an idiot and just figured it out tonight or you've known for a while and have been messing with me this whole time. Either way…" she bit her lip to stop a sob escaping.

"I didn't kiss you because I'm drunk. Well, I did…but the alcohol just gave me the nerve to do it. I wanted to anyway." Kjiersten, true to form, stayed silent which made him even more uncomfortable. "I know I've dated a lot of girls, but you're right. None of them were you, and I'm tired of trying to find someone that can be you. You're the only person I want."

He waited, but she kept quiet as she slowly sat down again. "Kjiersten, could you please say something?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"Whatever you're thinking."

"I'm thinking that if you actually wanted to be with me so much, why didn't you do something until now? And don't say alcohol or I'll punch you, because we get wasted all the time."

"I don't know! I'm a coward and didn't want to face your family? What do you want me to say?"

"Why would my family scare you off? My family loves you," she frowned. He reached for her hand, and she let him take it.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is us, right now, and what we do next. I want to give this thing a shot, and I'm really hoping you feel the same way."

"Of course I feel the same way. Don't be a moron," she snorted, looking away to hide her blush. He half-smiled, glad to see some of her spunk coming back. "But I don't understand why this is all coming out now. I don't want to do this if you can't be honest with me about how you feel."

"I know," he nodded, "but not telling you how I felt earlier was my mistake because I'm an idiot. I'm pretty sure we both knew that already." She smirked. "I don't care what anyone says, I love you and I want to be with you."

She let him pull her hand to his lips as she ran the other through her hair. "I love you, too," she told him. "We'll give this a shot, because I think we can work. But I need you to be honest with me; you keep making these little comments that I don't understand. Like…you don't care what anyone says? Who's saying anything? Why were you afraid of my family?"

Josh shook his head. "My dad told me once that the right woman was staring me in the face, and I was a damn fool for not doing everything I could to make her mine. I wish he could be here to see that I'm actually doing something. I didn't understand him at the time, but I realized a long time ago what he meant. Do you remember when I took you to your senior prom?" She nodded. "You were taking pictures with Ani or something, and your uncles pulled me aside. That was right after my accident, you know?" he motioned to his shoulder, and she nodded slowly. "And your dad told me he didn't want you waiting around for someone that might not come back one day. They wanted you to have a better life than that. Said that they were glad you had me as a friend, but…"

"But it should stay that way," she finished. "We were still arguing about me going crabbing at the time. He probably figured that being with you would make me want to go out that much more, but I'd change my mind if you pulled away."

"Don't be too harsh on him. He was just trying to protect you."

"How was he protecting me?" she snapped. "How would my life be better if they actually had driven you away?"

"But you didn't lose me," he insisted, kissing the back of her hand again. "I'm right here. That was a long time ago, and we're all different people now."

She shook her head. "Josh, this is bigger than that. It's not just about me and you, you know that. My family has no right to force people out of my life like that. It's just like them, and I probably should have figured it out a long time ago, but that doesn't make it right." She paused to take a deep breath. "But I will deal with that another day. I love you, and this…us…I know this is right. We'll take it from there."


	14. Chapter 14

*****Whew, got to update sooner than I thought I would! I felt like blowing off studying for finals today, so I spent pretty much all afternoon completely changing where this story originally went. Hope you like it (I think you will, but fingers crossed). Thank you for reading and reviewing, your comments always make me happy. And, as usual, the only stuff I can take any credit for is the stuff you don't recognize from the show*** **

No one would ever make the mistake of calling Kjiersten Hansen a good cook. For as supportive as Norman was, even he stopped eating her food after his second round of food poisoning. Sig had once insisted that everyone was overreacting and let her cook for him. She'd done a decent job except for the part where she forgot the butter. Paula made him clean the mess from that one, which really just ended with him buying her new pots and agreeing that Kjiersten should probably just stay out of the kitchen.

That being said, she still loved to try. She could actually bake pretty well, and it was the best way she knew to burn off energy. So, when she entered the house and saw no sign that Norman was awake, she knew she had to get into the kitchen. They needed to talk, but until then, she changed into Seahawks sweatpants and a long-sleeved Dirty Jobs t-shirt, she headed into the kitchen. French toast was a lot like baking, at least in her mind, and she hummed softly to herself as she cracked a few eggs into a mixing bowl. Whisking was a damn good way to get out frustrations, anyway.

She'd picked up her first cigarette in months last night, waking up in a fit around 3 AM unable to fall back asleep. Josh slept through it, thankfully, but he'd woken up after she'd stamped it out and destroyed the evidence and wondered why she was awake. She'd mumbled something about being hungover and ordered him to shut up, not wanting to discuss the thoughts about her family that kept her up most of the night. Now, the pack lay on the counter, ready for the next bout of emotion that was too much for her. It was a crutch, she knew, and one that would kill her in the end, but there was some comfort to the pack of Marlboros within reach.

Her cell phone rested on the counter below the chalkboard, silently reminding her that she had a lot to do that day. When Norman got up, they were having a serious talk, and then she would need to call Ani before the poor girl exploded. Right now, she had to focus on herself or else she would explode. She needed to hear firsthand what exactly Norm had told Josh all those years ago. She would hear him out, find out things weren't as bad as she thought, and it would all be alright.

That's what she told herself, at least, as she dropped some pieces of toast onto the griddle. The sizzling sound made her take a few deep breaths. This couldn't be so terrible, right? Norman would come down in a few minutes and explain himself and they'd have a good laugh. She could go right back to smiling about the way that Josh's smile brightened her whole day, hos she jumped when he snuck up on her just because he was nearby, not because he'd startled her.

"Everything will be alright when Dad wakes up," she told herself, flipping the toast. "You'll see." Her gaze shifted to the chalkboard, a staple in their kitchen for as long as she could remember.

Norman had mounted the chalkboard in his kitchen so they could keep track of each other when last-minute things came up, but it had evolved into so much more. A corner was dedicated to how long relationships would last, where "Josh/Gina-opies" was written in Norman's neat lettering. They would have to erase that estimate, which was unsurprisingly accurate; the pair had become masters at guessing how long relationships would last. The middle of the board was actually used for if one of them went somewhere and had to leave a message for the other. Important phone messages went along the top. Stupid quotes said by someone in the family went along the bottom, an honor currently taken by Edgar's "Well it would have made sense if I'd said it in a way that made sense!" from before they'd left. A few phone numbers were permanently written along the side, including the sat phones for the Northwestern, Cornelia Marie, and Time Bandit in case of emergencies, Kjiersten's doctor, and the chiropractor she had been urging her dad to visit for nearly a year now.

She laughed at the chiropractor's phone number and grabbed two plates from the corner cabinets. She piled french toast on both of them and sliced some butter to rest on each slice. Then, she grabbed some powder sugar and lightly dusted both servings before putting the plates on the table. She dumped everything in the sink for him to clean up later, maintaining that the one that cooked should not have to also do the dishes, and was just getting ready to pour each of them tall glasses of orange juice when she heard movement on the stairs.

"Thank you," she muttered heavenward. Her father lumbered downstairs, like always, and she smiled to herself at the familiar sound. She froze, however, when she heard a sound that wasn't familiar to their morning routine. Laughter.

When Norman turned the corner into the kitchen and froze, Kjiersten knew in her stomach that something was wrong. She was prepared to ignore it, though, for the sake of her sanity. She could only deal with one family crisis at a time.

"Dad, I really need to talk to you about something."

"I…um…" he licked his lips and watched as she carefully avoided looking at anything but the juice she was pouring. "I thought you were spending the night at Josh's."

"Well, yeah, that's kinda…" she laughed nervously and let out a shaky breath. "That's what I need to talk to you about." She grabbed the glasses and started to put the on the table.

But when Dana appeared at his elbow, she froze. Her mouth hung open mid-word, her hands shook and very nearly spilled orange juice all over the table until she regained enough presence of mind to set the glass down, and her eyes widened at the intruder.

"I didn't…I didn't know…um…" she turned to Norman, who was having just as much trouble looking at his daughter as she was looking at either of them. Dana wanted to say something, but she knew instinctively that anything she said would be wrong. So, instead, she let the room fill with the heavy silence of two people that just had no idea what to say to each other.

Kjiersten studied her father carefully as he focused on the side wall. He looked embarrassed now, but when he'd first come in, he'd been smiling. She'd even heard him laugh. He was standing tall, even with his shoulders now slumped. He was…happy.

And that just made it worse.

"I should go," Kjiersten announced finally, snapping everyone into action.

"Sweetie, no," Norman reached for her, but she dodged his hand. "We can talk about this."

"I really don't want to." She grabbed her phone and keys and scooped her Northwestern jacket off of the floor.

"Kjiersten," Dana started, but she didn't know what to say next when the young woman stopped at the door leading to their deck. Kjiersten let the silence linger for a moment as she looked at them sideways over her shoulder.

"I, uh…made breakfast. Hope it's edible."

She shoved her way outside and ignored her dad as he called her name from the doorway. Maybe she'd hardened a bit overnight, or maybe she was too numb to give a shit anymore. Either way, nothing even tempted her to look back as she pulled her Jeep out and drove away. At first, she had no idea where she was going, but when she looked up, the car was stopped in Ani's driveway. Driving on autopilot terrified Kjiersten, who would barely talk to passengers because she wanted her attention totally focused on the road, but she couldn't complain today.

Instead, she let herself in and sat on the couch until Ani and Vince both came downstairs a few hours later.

"Um…explain?" Vince pointed, but Ani shoved him towards the kitchen.

"Make food," she ordered, sitting down next to Kjiersten. When he was gone, she pulled her friend into a hug. "Josh called. Sweetie, is this about last night? Are you ok?"

"No," she shook her head. "To both. It's not about last night, and I'm not ok."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Are you pregnant?"

"Bitch," Kjiersten smiled briefly.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Here," Kjiersten fished her cell phone out of her pocket and handed it to Ani, who frowned between the phone and her friend. "Keep that. Delete any texts or voicemails from my dad and my uncles."

"You gonna tell me what's going on?" Ani asked, turning the phone on so Kjiersten couldn't see the screen. Kjiersten nodded.

"Yeah. Later. Can I just crash for now?"

"Of course. There's a futon in the computer room. It's not much, but it'll work for now. Or however long you plan to stay. I'm guessing this is gonna be a while?"

Kjiersten shrugged. "I don't know. I really can't think about it yet."

"Okay, sweetie," Ani kissed her forehead gently, "you take your time. I'm gonna go sort through your messages and make sure Vince is actually making food. Want me to get you for breakfast?" Kjiersten nodded. "Alright. I'll get you in a few minutes."


	15. Chapter 15

"Hey, Mopey McMopester, your cousins want to go shopping for Christmas party dresses. You have until Friday to pull yourself together. Think you'll be good by then?"

Kjiersten raised her eyebrows at the crossword clue she was filling in. "Guess I don't really have a choice. I'll be fine with them, anyway. They have no clue what's going on."

"Clueless," Ani agreed, pouring them both coffee. "Nina was confused that I answered your phone, so I told her I was borrowing it 'cuz mine broke and I was waiting for a call."

"You work so well under pressure," Kjiersten quipped sarcastically. "Nina's not an idiot. You would have done better to just ignore the question."

"She specifically asked me!" Ani insisted. The doorbell rang, and Ani swore under her breath as she stood up. "If Sig is at my door, I'm not even trying to fight him."

"Who are we fighting?" Vince frowned, stealing his wife's coffee as he breezed into the kitchen.

"It's not Sig," Kjiersten shook her head. "It's Josh," Kjiersten supplied right as Ani let him inside. "Which you've obviously already figured. Josh offered a small wave to show how late Kjiersten was at announcing him. "I'm moving my stuff into his place today."

"Finally!" Ani threw her hands in the air. "I'm tired of your sorry ass sleeping on my futon and eating my food."

"Well, now it'll be sleeping in my bed and eating _my_ food," Josh grunted, slinging one of her bags over his shoulder. "Jake! Little help?" Jake bounded from the porch, where he'd been studying the carefully arranged gnomes Ani and Vince hid amongst their flowers.

"Sorry, man," he grinned sheepishly, slinging two of Kjiersten's bags over his shoulders. "Is this all you have?"

"Most of my stuff's still at my dad's," she shrugged. "I don't need that much. I'll talk to him soon enough and sort this all out."

"The sooner the better," Jake nodded, taking another bag. Kjiersten grabbed the last one and followed the Harris brothers outside. "You should keep your family close."

She reached over and noogied him through his beanie. He ducked away and batted at her hand, laughing at the playful gesture. She grinned back and settled for pushing his face away. "Thanks for the insight, Wise One."

"Just saying. By the way, I've decided on some house rules I'm gonna tell you about."

"I'm intrigued. Go on," Kjiersten leaned against the car and motioned Jake to continue, which he did gladly. Josh rolled his eyes as he loaded the trunk by himself.

"One, No sex in the kitchen. I have to eat in there. Two, no sex near my dog. She doesn't need to see that stuff; she's just a puppy. Three, Kjiersten, don't wear any of my clothes. I don't want them to smell like you. You smell like a girl. I smell like a sexy chick magnet, and I don't need you ruining my game."

"This is gonna be for, like, two days, Jake. You really think…"

"Do you agree to my terms or not?" he interrupted. She narrowed her eyes at him but couldn't help cracking into a grin.

"Your terms are acceptable. Except no sex in the kitchen. Is that negotiable?"

"The house rules are not negotiable!" Jake insisted.

"Party pooper," she faked a pout. "I CALL SHOTGUN!"

"What? No, not cool! I always ride shotgun. Josh, tell her I always ride shotgun."

"Dude, she just called it," Josh shrugged. "You always rode shotgun 'cuz there was no one else. Step your game up." Kjiersten stuck her tongue out and waved goodbye to Ani and Vince before skipping around the car and opening the front passenger side door.

"Watch your back, Kjiersten Hansen," Jake threatened playfully as he got into the backseat behind Josh. "This isn't over." She reached back to noogie him again, but he dodged and grabbed her wrist. She twisted her arm and reached to smack him, so he grabbed that hand and tried to push her arms away.

"Children, really?" Josh rolled his eyes into the rearview mirror. "I'm not starting this car until you two behave." They both let go and shifted to sit normally in their seats. Kjiersten turned briefly to stick her tongue out, and Jake returned the favor after she turned her head. "I think I'm starting to miss when you two hated each other. I didn't know I was signing on to live with 5-year-olds."

* * *

Norman ran his hand through his hair as Edgar passed him a beer. "Think she'll call before Christmas?"

"Course she will," Edgar nodded, plopping down next to him. Sig nodded his agreement but couldn't talk around the beer bottle in his mouth. "She'll come around. She always does."

"It's been a week," Norm shook his head.

"She'll call," Sig insisted after swallowing. "She's stubborn as hell, but she'll get over it. Give the girl a chance to come around. She said she needed to talk to you about something else, right?" Norman nodded. "So she's just overreacting because something else was stressing her out. Don't even worry about it."

"Yeah," Edgar raised his bottle in a makeshift toast to Sig. "He's right. She'll calm down in no time. You know how she gets."

"Yeah, I do," Norman nodded, sipping on his beer. "That's what's worrying me."

The conversation was cut off as soon as Mandy came into the room. It was an unwritten rule that the Kjiersten situation was not to be mentioned in front of Sig's daughters, and the three of them were masters ending a discussion as soon as one appeared. Mandy looked up from her phone at the sudden silence to see the people sitting in the living room, and exclaimed, "What the hell are you all doing here?"

"Is that any kind of way to greet your uncle?" Edgar smirked, holding his arms out. "Come here and give me a hug." Mandy complied, but the shocked look stayed on her face.

"Dad," she hissed while hugging Norman, "I thought you were going out today!"

"Yeah, well, plans changed," Sig shrugged. "I don't have to explain myself to you, kiddo. What's gotten into you?"

"No. Nothing. Everything's fine." She hurried to the doorway and yelled "NINA!" as she disappeared. Sig shook his head.

"Teenage girls. I will never understand them," Sig grunted. Edgar made some kind of clever quip back, but Sig was more focused on why his daughters were hovering by the front door. "Hey! What are you punks doing over there?"

"Nothing!" Nina shook her head. "We're going out. Mom didn't tell you?"

"No, your mother did not tell me. Your mother never tells me anything. Going _where_?"

"Dad," Nina sighed as something outside caught Mandy's attention, "the mall. Chillax."

"Do not tell your old man to chillax," he ordered, but they were already sliding out the front door on him. "FREEZE!"

The command, in that tone, made not only Nina and Mandy freeze on the porch, but also Kjiersten as she hopped out of her Jeep. She immediately got apologetic looks from her cousins, but that was nothing compared to the faces behind them. Sig, Edgar, and Norman came to see what had Mandy and Nina so on-edge, and everyone stopped when they saw her.

"Well," Kjiersten faked a smile, "this isn't awkward at all! Nina, Mandy, uh, I just got a shit ton of new music from my friends this week. How about you go through my iPod and check it all out, okay? I'll meet you in a minute."

"KJ," Mandy began, but Nina took her sister's arm and led her towards the Jeep as Kjiersten slipped past her uncles into the house. She walked into the living room, crossed her arms, and waited. When the door closed, Kjiersten whirled on her family.

"What the fuck is wrong with you people?"

"Excuse me?" Sig frowned. "You disappear for a week, and the problem is with _us_."

"Oh, please," she wrinkled her nose at him. "I was with Ani and Vince. If there was a brain between the three of you, you would have called their house, heard one of her shitty-ass lies, and known I was there instantly."

"What is your problem?" Edgar insisted. "You can't seriously be this upset over-"

"This has nothing to do with Dana," she interrupted, squeezing her eyes shut like she didn't even want to say the name. "It's not. You looked…" she shook her head at her dad and shrugged, "happy. I mean, you know, considering. Which, hey, great! It just sucks that the one time I _really_ need you, you're busy doing someone I can't stand."

"You are so far out line right now, Kjiersten," Sig shook his head.

"Then let him stand up for himself!" she shouted, motioning towards the still-silent Norman. "He has no trouble telling everyone else what he thinks!"

"Kjiersten," Edgar said evenly, trying to stop this from turning into a shouting match, "what is this really about?"

"This is about how wrong it is to mess with other people's lives!"

"We're not messing with your life, Kjiersten," he frowned.

"Yes, you are! You've had your hands all over the most important part of me for way too fucking long because you're a bunch of old, stubborn assholes that can't stand to let me make my own mistakes. Would that really kill you so damn much? No," she waved off whatever Sig started to say, "don't. Don't even fucking answer that. I don't want to her your excuses. You're pathetic, you know that? The three of you are just pathetic cowards."

"What are you talking about?" Sig shook his head. "I swear, we really don't understand."

"No, you wouldn't, would you? It wasn't a big of a deal to you guys. I'm sure you've forgotten ALL about it by now. Let me refresh your memories. Our story begins at my senior prom." She watched the look the three brothers shared. "Do I have to continue?"

"We were trying to protect you. Josh had almost been killed, remember?" Edgar started gently.

"And the best way to protect me was to subtly threaten him into only ever being my friend? What would be so damn wrong with me taking that chance? Would it be so fucking terrible if I was allowed to make my own decisions? I was well aware that he might go out on a trip and never come back, _especially_ after the accident. I always knew what the life of a crabber meant; I was raised by _you_!" she motioned to her dad. "Why the hell would you guys do that to us?"

"Don't blame them," Norman finally spoke.

"Oh, trust me, I blame them a whole hell of a lot because they still chose to take part, but I know you were the mastermind, _Daddy_. You've been so terrified of losing someone else that you've never let people get close to you, and you wanted me to live exactly the same way. You just wanted to keep me all wrapped up in the shadows with you where you could keep me safe and warm and never let me live my own life. God forbid someone in this family ever try to love anybody again! I can't put my heart on the line because of Mom, and that's not fair! Just because you're a scared, lonely man doesn't mean I have pay for it!"

"Kjiersten!" Sig snapped. "You don't talk to your father that way."

"I'm just saying what you've both been thinking for the past 19 years, and you know it. You've never gone out on a date. Hell, I don't think you even talk to single women just to be safe. I'd bet my opie wage that Dana had to ask you out, because you're too scared to put yourself out there, and I'm the one that's had to pay for it! Why the hell would you do that to me, Daddy?" Something about the combination of anger and pain in the way she asked made Norman wince.

"I…it was stupid, I admit that. I just wanted better for you. I didn't want you to be another girl waiting on the docks for a boat to come in. I didn't want you to have another grave to visit."

"I was already one of those girls, Dad! This might be a shocker for you, but MY WHOLE FAMILY FISHES!" she yelled.

"Kjiersten, could you please calm down?" Edgar started.

"No, no I will not calm down!" she snapped. "Because guess what? Your plan failed! I kissed Josh a week ago. Hell, now I'm staying with him because it's too much for me to be in the same house with you. I love him, and he loves me! So if you want to go threaten him or warn him away from me _again_, have a blast. It's not going to change anything.."

"Kjiersten," Norman reached for her as she passed between him and Edgar, but she turned from his hand and squeezed through.

"No," she shook her head and let the anger wash out of her face. Even after the longest grind in the harshest weather, they had never seen her look that tired. "It's too late for that. I'm taking the girls shopping, and I'll bring them back, but I'm not getting out of the car when I get back. From now on, you guys don't get a say in my life, because I don't know what shit you'll pull next. I can't trust you guys anymore."

"Of course you can trust us," Sig insisted.

"No," she sighed sadly as she opened the front door, "I can't. It's not exactly hard to imagine you two doing this, but Dad?" She shook her head and swallowed around the lump in her throat. "My whole view of you and our relationship has been tossed around, and I'm not totally sure I even know who you are anymore. So I need time to figure all this out." She paused with the door halfway closed and cracked it open again to add something. "I'm glad you found someone, Dad. I hope she makes you really happy. And…if I don't talk to you guys before then…I'll see you for opies."

"Kjiersten!" Sig's eyes grew wide. "What about the holidays? What about…?"

"I'll see you," she said evenly, cutting him off, "when I'm ready. Or for opies. Whatever comes first."


	16. Chapter 16

*****This is blatantly a filler post, so I'll post again this weekend. Sig, Andy, and John are coming to Pittsburgh on Saturday, so my roommate and I are having a roadtrip to see them. I'm psyched.*****

_"Hey, Norm. It's Dana again. Um, I don't want to bug you or anything, but I'm worried. I wanted to give you your space to sort everything out with Kjiersten, but it's been two weeks since dinner. I'm starting to feel like a one night stand. What's happening here?"_

_ "Norm. It's Sig. Dana called me today. What the hell are doing? Don't you push this one away."_

_ "Hey, Mr. Hansen. It's Josh. Could you call me when you get this? Thanks."_

_ "Hey, Mr. Hansen. It's Josh. I called a couple days ago, but I guess you didn't get it. I just wanted to let you know that I'm doing all I can, but I don't think Kjiersten's going home for Christmas. I'm really trying, but you know how she is; if she doesn't want to do it, there's no making her. So…I mean, things could change, but I wouldn't keep your hopes up. I'm really sorry."_

_ "Hi, Daddy H, it's Ani. I gotta keep this quick before she gets back. Kjiersten's safe and all; she came with us to Rhode Island for Christmas. We're staying with Vince's parents for…fucking shit…no, sir, sorry, there's no Catherine here. Must have a wrong number. Uh-huh, it's fine, bye!"_

_"Heeeey, Norm, it's Ed. I'm dragging you to John's Christmas party even if it kills us both. Dana's gonna be there. She and Chris are apparently the best of friends now, being the lone camerwomen. You're gonna deal with this. You're gonna deal with a lot of things at this party. I'll be there in 10."_

_ "Norman, as soon as I find you, I'm wringing your damn neck! Where the hell are you? Ed and I waited for half an hour outside your house, but we finally had to give up and get to the Hillstrand's. It's the fucking Christmas party! Why the hell would you miss that? Everyone was asking about you and Kjiersten, and you know how Ed does under pressure. He told everyone she has pneumonia and you stayed home to take care of her. Expect cards and those stupid basket things any second now. And phone calls. Lots and lots of phone calls. I'd apologize, but you brought this on yourself!"_

_ "Hey, my man. Uh, it's John. Sorry to hear about Kjiersten, man. Hope she gets better real quick. Andy and I might stop by tomorrow if she's not contagious. Let me know what's going on. Take care!"_

_ "Hey, sir, it's Jake, uh, Anderson. Is Kjiersten really sick? Cuz Jake, uh, Harris, we were just hanging out the other day and he said something about her staying with him and Josh. I didn't say anything to anyone, but I just wanted to know. If she's sick that fast, it sounds really serious; my mom'll want to bring a casserole or something. Uh, so, yeah, hope everything's okay. Bye."_

_ "Norman, it's Dana. Don't freak out, I don't want to talk about us right now or anything. I'm really worried about you. What's going on? Every time I call, your phone's turned off. I mean, if you're ignoring me, I guess that makes sense, but please call me back. There's stuff we need to talk about, and I think we should do it soon. Please call me back. Okay. Bye."_

* * *

_"You have a lot of nerve to talk to your own father like that. Norman is your flesh and blood. If Nina or Mandy talked to me like that, I wouldn't let them back in my house. You're possibly the most ungrateful child I've ever met. Who the hell are you anymore, Kjiersten? My niece doesn't act this way. Get your damn act together, call your dad, and pray to God above he's got a better heart than I do."_

_ "Hey, Kier. It's your Uncle Ed. I stopped by earlier, but Josh said you weren't home. So I talked to him for a bit. You know, man-to-man. Don't worry, I didn't warn him off or nothing. I just wanted to know you were okay, seeing as you won't talk to any of us. And I wanted to apologize, but that's something I need to do in person, and you won't give me the time of day anymore. If you're ever not busy, call so we can meet up. I'll even go nuts and buy you lunch. I love you, tyke. Stay safe."_

_ "Hi, Kjiersten. It's Dana…and, wow, this is really awkward. I should've thought about this before I called, but I just kinda saw the number and dialed before I…yeah, you don't care. Anyway. I know you hate me…I kind of hate me, too, right now…but…the reason I called…is that I'm…I'm really worried about your dad. I haven't heard from him since…well, you can probably guess since when. I don't care about our relationship. Well, I mean, I care…I really _really_ care…but that's not what I mean. I'm rambling. I-"_

_ "Kjiersten. It's Dana again. I got cut-off, so I'm gonna try this again. This isn't me being desperate because he hasn't called me yet. I'm just worried about him overall. I never wanted to drive a wedge between you two, and I don't want him to feel like I'm tearing him away from your mom. He won't let me explain anything to him, and if he is having trouble dealing with stuff…well, could you just tell him that I'm here? Thanks." _

_"KJ, turn your damn phone on. How the fucking hell am I supposed to talk to you if you keep your damn phone off? We need to talk about how much you owe me for this plane ticket; they don't just give away flights to Rhode Island, you know. Bitch."_

_ "Yo, s'Jake. I got your damn uncles calling me, and I'm not really likin' it all that much. Would you just call them already? And while you're at it, tell Josh I borrowed his car to get to therapy. You're the best!"_

_ "Hey, it's Uncle Eddie. It's Christmas Eve, and no one's mentioning that your pretty little head isn't gathered around Sig's Christmas tree, but it's not. We miss you. Please call me. Let me know you're safe. Merry Christmas, sweetheart."_

_ "Kjiersten Rose Hansen, this has gone on long enough. It's one thing if you want to give us the silent treatment and hide out in your boyfriend's house, but missing Christmas? That's a whole new level of fucked up. New Years is at your dad's in Yakima. You better be there with a new attitude. This isn't just affecting us, you know. Paula and Mandy and Nina all miss you. Hell, I'd miss you if you were still the same person. Get it together, or don't bother showing up on my boat for opies."_

_ "It's Sig again. I might've been a little harsh earlier. You know you always have a place on the boat. But your attitude doesn't. So…no, Paula, I'm not actually talking to her, it's the damn voicemail!...That's it. See you for New Years."_

_ "Hi, Kjiersten, it's good ol' Johnny Hillstrand at your service. Heard you were feeling under the weather. We tried to stop by earlier, but I guess you were at the doctor or something? No one was there. Anyway, feel better soon, kiddo!"_

_ "Babe, did you know that everyone thinks you're dying? Seriously. They all do. Jake said it was something about the Hillstrand's party, but I was there and must've missed it. I don't know. Point is, people keep asking me how you're doing, so I've been making shit up. When you get back from Rhode Island, these people are gonna think you have brain cancer. Sucks for you, but my life is really fun right now! Love you!"_

_ "Yeah, hey, Kjiersten, it's Uncle Ed again. I missed you at the family New Year's Eve party. It's not the same without you. I hope you had a good time with whatever you were doing. I miss you, tyke. I really wish you'd call me. I love you. Take care of yourself."_

* * *

The first snowstorm of the year left everything blanketed in a layer of pristine crystals that no one seemed anxious to touch. Most people were in bed, nursing hang-overs from overzealous parties or making up for the sleep they'd lost the night before. January 1st, the day people hardly live.

Normally, she spent it in bed, too. A few years ago, she'd spent it drinking, trying to follow the idea that the best way to cure a hangover was more alcohol. She'd never done that since.

Normally, she spent the last night of the year with the family, celebrating in the quiet of Yakima, her family all around her, beer in hand, Ryan Seacrest on TV to mock and imitate his guests.

Normally, she was happy.

But her mind wasn't at ease that day, so she slipped out of Josh's arms early, changed in the bathroom so she didn't wake him, and wandered out into the snow without even thinking to put on boots or a coat. The bottoms of her jeans were soaked in minutes by the 4 inches covering every surface, and her arms had goose bumps even through her underarmor and Josh's Dutch Harbor hoodie. She noticed neither one as she got into her Jeep. Normally, she cranked the heat, blasted music that she sang at the top of her lungs, and yelled at every other driver for the slightest act against her. Today, she stayed cold and silent until she reached her destination, the only car on the road.

The path was familiar, but it looked alien that day. The snow was untouched in this part of the cemetery. She had never been there in the wintertime, not that she could remember at least. For a while, her father had taken her on the anniversary, but that stopped once she started cod fishing and they both had to go up to get the boat ready. It was one thing for a lone crew member to delay, but two put everything behind schedule, and neither one wanted to do that to everyone else.

She stopped in front of the stone, closing her eyes so the wind didn't blow hair into them. When the wind calmed, she opened them again and sank to her knees. "I'm lost, Momma."

Her knees were cold through the wet denim, but she couldn't feel it. "I know I'm doing the wrong thing, but I can't…" she shook her head and sniffed back tears. "I can't face them right now. And I know they're worried and upset and hurt, but so am I. How am I supposed to help them if I keep waking up in the middle of the night crying? They tell me could do that, put other people first no matter how bad it hurt, and I want to be like you. I wish so bad I could be…you'd tell me what to do right now. If you were still here, you'd know. You'd make this all better."

"I never even met you. Not really. I can't remember you. I don't remember what you look like, only what I've seen in pictures. I don't know what your voice was like. Dad says you used to sing to me, that you had the most beautiful laugh. I don't remember any of that. But I know that you were an amazing woman. If Dad loved you, you must have been one hell of a woman. I want to be like that. I want to do all the things they say you did."

"Did this ever happen to you? Did someone ever hurt you like this? What did _you_ do? Because I have no fucking clue, Mom. I know what I need to do. But I don't think I can. I could really use your help."

That January 1st, Josh Harris woke up to find an empty pillow next to him and no sign of where its inhabitant had gone to. Dana Camden congratulated herself for not drinking the night before by eating a whole pizza for breakfast. Norman, Sig, and Edgar groaned at each other to stop yelling and make some damn coffee.

And Kjiersten Hansen cried.


	17. Chapter 17

*****Had an awesome time seeing Captain Sig and the Hillstrands last night in Pittsburgh. I got crazy inspired, too, so I wrote a lot this morning. Hope you enjoy!*****

Edgar flipped up his welder's mask and listened carefully to the laughter drifting down the docks. He scanned carefully until he saw the source, the familiar blonde standing by the Cornelia watching Jake Harris throw cod at his older brother. She laughed again as Josh yelled something he couldn't understand from the deck of the Northwestern and sent the fish back at Jake, who couldn't dodge in time and took a cod to the chest. The youngest Harris stumbled a few steps from the impact, turned, and chucked the fish at her. She squealed, barely caught it, held it out like it was oozing blood, and yelled at Jake. The brothers laughed, and Josh hopped the rail to take the fish from her. He chucked it onto the boat, wrapped his arms around her waist, and muttered something to her. Edgar looked away at that point. He didn't need to see anything else. In the last month, Kjiersten had found more of a family with those two than she had with her own blood. He swore under his breath, flipped his visor back down, and was just about to get back to fixing the dogs when he heard that familiar voice calling his name.

"Uncle Eddie?" He started when he realized how close she was and flipped his visor up to see that Kjiersten was now on the docks in front of the Northwestern. "Can I…?"

He stared at her for a second before grunting, "Get your ass on board." She grinned and chucked her bag over before hopping the rail herself.

"You need help?" He shrugged. "Uncle Eddie, please don't do this."

"Do what? I'm not doing anything you haven't done to me the past month."

"I was an idiot, I know," she sighed, leaning back against the rail. "I should have called you back. I tried to call you back so many times, but I could never go through with it. I never knew what to say. I was never really mad at you, you know."

"Could have fooled me."

"Look, I'm trying here," she snapped. They both glared each other down until he broke and nodded for her to go on. "I even understand why you helped dad in the first place. I think you were an idiot, but I get it now. And this whole time, you never gave up on me. I think Uncle Sig wrote me out of his will five different ways judging by his voicemails, but you didn't turn your back on me even though I was being a total bitch. I never wanted to hurt anyone, especially not you guys. I love you guys. You're my family. I just felt really betrayed, Uncle Eddie. My whole life, it's always been my dad and me. I told him everything, every single thing that went down in my life, and when I couldn't tell him, I went to you guys. To find out that you might have been working against me turned everything upside for me, and I needed to get it all right again. I didn't want to cut you out, and I didn't want to miss Christmas or New Years, but I just wasn't ready. And I wanted to call you, but I couldn't. I…it was…"

"Hey, hey," Edgar stoop up and pulled her into his arms as a few tears leaked out of her eyes, "it's okay. Don't cry. I know. I'm just upset because I was worried about you but couldn't even hear your voice. I get missing the holidays and staying with Josh and all that stuff. I just wanted to know you were alright. That's all. Don't worry about it."

She relaxed into him as he stroked her hair, glad to be back on the familiar, gentle rocking of the Northwestern with the comforting arms of her favorite uncle keeping her safe again. "Thank you."

"Like I could ever be mad at you, Tyke." She laughed. "I'm the easy one, though."

"Think Uncle Sig still wants me on the boat?" she asked as she pulled out of the hug.

"Of course he does. You're the only one in the next generation of Hansen's with any interest in this business. Without you, the legacy dies. If nothing else, he'll keep you around to have someone to pass the boat off to when we all kick the bucket."

"Wow," she rolled her eyes. "You have such a way with words." He grinned boyishly. "Where is everyone else?"

"I came up early to do some repairs since I didn't know if I'd have help or not. Sig and your dad will be up tomorrow. I sent Jake, Nick, and Matt shopping to get 'em out of my hair."

"So I have another day to write my apologies. Awesome," she nodded thoughtfully.

"Dana and Don are here. Dana really wants to talk to you, too. Norman's silent treatment wasn't exclusive to you."

"Yeah, she called me," Kjiersten nodded. "I really hoped he'd get his act together on that one."

"No such luck."

"Could we have more drama going into this season?" Kjiersten made a face and kicked her bag towards the door inside. Edgar shrugged.

"That's what makes this boat so great, Tyke! How else do we keep it interesting?"

She laughed as she grabbed her bag and headed inside. She heard Don and Dana up in the wheelhouse, so she made it a point to avoid the creaky spot on the floor as she passed the steps. She hesitated outside the door of her usual stateroom, ordered herself to stop being dramatic, opened the door, and shoved her bag in. When she turned around, Don was coming down, shaking his head. He saw her and shook his head again.

"I can never get sane cameramen. Never. I'm the producer. They should listen. Do they? No! Never! Chris was bad. This one?" he threw a hand upstairs. "No respect. Wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't right," he grumbled, grabbing his Red Bull off of the table. "That's the worst part. They always have to be fucking right." He muttered more under his breath, grabbed a camera bag off of the table, and headed out to start setting deck cams.

She laughed at her favorite producer and headed up into the wheelhouse, where Dana was busy adjusting the captain's camera in a new spot that Sig would spend the whole season trying to find. She stopped at the top of the stairs and leaned against the railing, watching as Dana simultaneously fought with the rigging and a stubborn piece of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail and wouldn't stay tucked behind her ear.

"Hey, pretty lady." Dana jumped and banged her head on radio at Kjiersten's voice.

"Why do you people always sneak up on me?" she whined, sinking back into Sig's chair. She turned in it, saw Kjiersten, and offered a tired smile. "I didn't think I'd see you, to hear Sig and Edgar talk."

"I didn't think I'd be here. Have you been talking to them a lot?"

Dana shrugged, rubbing her forehead. "More than I thought I would."

"Dad never called you."

"No."

Kjiersten nodded and bounced her fist gently against the railing. "That's probably my fault. He was more worried about me, and he can only deal with one crisis at a time. Everything else kind of falls to the side. He's always been that way."

"It's…" Dana waved a hand as she trailed off. "Well, he'll have to talk to me now, won't he? We're stuck together for the next two months. I just wish we could have talked sooner. I really wanted to clear things up between us."

"Yeah, he's not...Dad's never really been good with words. Things never get 'cleared up'," Kjiersten shrugged. "And, like I said, it's not that he was purposely ignoring you. He just couldn't think about anything else."

"Edgar told me you guys got in a pretty big fight."

"Epic proportions," Kjiersten confirmed. "This is the first time I've seen any of them in a month. Pretty much since our beautiful moment in the kitchen, actually. Which, by the way, I apologize for. I had other things going on, and the massive implications were just way too much for me to handle. I was way out of line."

"For running out?" Dana smirked. "Please. Anyone would have done that. Seeing your dad with someone when he's been single for, what, 20 years? That has to be pretty intense."

"Like you wouldn't believe," Kjiersten agreed. "Especially when I don't even like you."

"Yeah, well," Dana laughed, "the feeling's mutual. But I respect you, and if you have a huge problem with this, I don't want to keep you and your dad apart."

"Nah," she shook her head, "don't worry about that. You're good for him, and, even though you're a dumbass, I respect you, too."

"Well, thank you. For the record, you're a cocky bitch."

Kjiersten grinned. "It's good to have you back."


	18. Chapter 18

*****So, I don't love this post. It feels rushed to me or something-I don't know. But I wanted to get something else up before the weekend because with everyone coming back home from school, I know I'm going to be busy for a while.*****

"Well, looks like the princess decided to finally grace us with her presence! It's about fucking time we saw her do something other than throw a goddamn temper tantrum!"

Even with Edgar's warning, Kjiersten had no time to steel herself against the barrage of words Sig sent flying at her from the dock. Scenes like this were commonplace in Dutch- greenhorns being put in their place or crew skipping out on work often earned themselves some public humiliation. Most just ignored it, but Kjiersten didn't want Josh looking at her like that as he helped load groceries onto the Cornelia Marie next to them.

"It takes a lot of fucking nerve to show up here after all this! There's no room on this boat for children, Kjiersten!"

"I don't intend to bring any children on board," she shrugged casually. Edgar shot her a warning look from his spot on the deck. If she was on firm ground, she would have hopped the rail and confronted her uncle, but she was currently trying to replace the hose on their crane so they stopped leaking hydraulic fluid all over the deck.

"You're not irreplaceable, you know. I could have dozens of people here to fill your spot in a goddamn second. I don't need your fucking _attitude _on my ship! You've been nothing but a disrespectful, selfish…"

"What, Uncle Sig?" she snapped, slamming her pliers against the crane. "What am I? A bitch? A child? An idiot? Call me whatever the hell you want! I'm on the damn boat, ready to apologize and ready to work. If you're just going to belittle me and give me shit, I'll pack up and go home right fucking now."

"Oh, you're so fucking predictable, Kjiersten," Sig spat, hopping the rail onto his boat. Don and Dana stepped out on deck, saw the tense scene, and immediately whirled for cameras.

"Guess who I learned it from!" she spat right back at him.

"I have _never_ disrespected my family like this. No matter how angry I was, I would _never_ act the way you have."

Kjiersten hung her head and took a few deep breaths so that she could be as calm as possible when she looked back up. "Well, I'm not you, am I? I was raised not to take shit from anybody, so when I get hurt, I lash out. Kind of like you're doing right now." She paused to let that sink in. "And I'm sorry I hurt you guys; I wasn't thinking about anyone else at that point."

Sig opened his mouth and pointed at her, but he looked between the cameras, Edgar, and her sunken face. His hand fell slowly back to his side. "You're damn right you weren't thinking," he grumbled. "How long's that repair gonna take?"

Kjiersten shared a smile with Edgar and picked her pliers back up. "Maybe another 20 minutes or so."

"You get yourself back on this deck safe," Sig ordered. "You know I don't like you working up there." She grinned at that. "Your dad's gonna be up soon."

"Yeah, I know."

"Know what you're gonna say to him?"

"Nope."

Sig looked at Edgar, and they both rolled their eyes. "You really are your father's daughter, you know that?"

"So I've been told," she nodded. "Speaking of; DON! Put your damn camera away! You don't need to film this shit!"

"I'm just doing my job!" he insisted. "Why do you people sign contracts and then do everything you can not to fill them?"

"We meet our contracts," Sig pointed. "We just like making your lives hard. It adds joy to our lives."

"You know what adds joy to my life? Cake. You should try it sometime."

"You clearly lead a boring life!" Edgar grinned as he lowered the crane back onto the deck. Kjiersten untied herself and hopped off. "Your dad's gonna be here soon, y'know. You should have some kind of plan."

"Don't worry about us," she shook her head. "I'm gonna go talk to Dana." Edgar frowned at her. "Dad and I can work through anything. Those two? There's a better chance of you hitting the lottery."

"So…you're going to give her a pep talk on how to handle the same person you haven't talked to in a month?"

"Why would you say it like that? Why do you always have to put things like that?" She threw her hands up. "You always have to make stuff sound as bad as possible, Uncle Eddie! What the fuck?"

"I'm just trying to understand," he shrugged. She made a face as she opened the door to the galley.

"Well, stop. You just make me sound stupid, and I don't need your help." She disappeared inside and found Dana slumped at the table, staring at her hands as if they held the answers to the universe. "What's up with you?"

Dana snapped her head up, obviously startled. "Huh? Nothing. Why do you guys always sneak up on me?"

Kjiersten smirked. "I really didn't this time, honest. You look like something's eating at you."

Dana offered a weak smile. "I've got a lot on my mind. Any idea when your dad's showing up?"

"Ah, I _knew_ that's what this was about," Kjiersten smirked, leaning against the wall casually. "Look, you know he's been through a lot. He'll come around, just like I said. You won't even need to figure out what to say; he'll come to you. Don't sweat it."

"It's not that easy anymore," Dana shook her head and rubbed her stomach as she cast a look at the fridge.

"Oh my God, you're pregnant."

Dana raised her eyebrows and sat up straight. "Oh. My God. Is it really that obvious already?"

"OHMYGOD, you're actually pregnant!" Kjiersten squeaked, her eyes growing wide. She threw her hands over her mouth and felt her stomach clench as she flinched away.

"Oh my _God_, could you be any louder?"

"You're…fucking-a, that's…holy shit…you're…it's…" she pointed to Dana's stomach as she fumbled through her thoughts. "Is it Dad's?"

"Well…yeah. I wish there was a better way to break that news, but…" she shrugged helplessly.

"Fucking a," Kjiersten murmured, still staring at Dana's stomach. "Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"I just found out a week ago. I mean, I'm only a little over a month along, and it's not something I was all that concerned about happening. Besides, it's not exactly news you leave on someone's voicemail. I don't know what was going on between you two, but you and your dad can do the silent treatment like nobody's business. You really didn't know?"

"I was just saying that. I say that all the time. Breaks the ice. You're actually fucking pregnant. Ho-ly shit. Wait!" Kjiersten threw her hands up and exclaimed, "You can't go out fishing like that!"

"I believe I can, actually," Dana countered.

"Not with my half…whatever…in there," Kjiersten gestured wildly to her stomach. "It's too dangerous. No, uh-uh, not a chance. You march into the wheelhouse and you tell Don you can't go out this season!"

"Kjiersten, I'm going out this season. I can't not go. I have to do this."

"Like hell you do!" Kjiersten exclaimed. "You stay home and take care of yourself. It's one thing to be stupid enough to put your own life at risk, but the life of…no! You get your ass off this boat!"

"Kjiersten," Dana stood up and grabbed the younger woman's hand, "you know I need to be here. If you were cut off from Josh, and the only way you could reach him was to go out, you look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't fight like hell to be on that boat when it left port." Kjiersten opened her mouth to protest, but closed it at the look in Dana's eyes.

"You really care about him, don't you?"

"I really do. And I will tell him about this, but you need to give me some time, alright? I want him to be around because of me, not because of this. Just give me this trip."

Kjiersten gaped at her, studying her like you would someone who had just claimed they had a third eye that you couldn't see. "Alright. You have opies to tell him. Or I do."

"I'll tell him myself. But I need him talking to me first."

"Need who talking to you before you can what?" Kjiersten and Dana snapped their heads around as Sig hopped down from the wheelhouse. Both women looked at each other. This was Kjiersten's first test, and they both knew it.

"Is dad here yet?" Kjiersten deflected, still watching Dana. Sig nodded.

"He's talking to Josh right now. That's what I was coming down to tell you. Thought you might want to interrupt."

"Shit," she mumbled, breaking the stare-down to look at Sig. "Thanks, Uncle Sig. I want to talk to him on land. Then," she turned to Dana, "he's all yours."

"Did I miss something?" Sig frowned between them. Kjiersten's face lit up in a huge grin, and she bounced over to him to plant a sloppy kiss on his cheek.

"You're always missing something, Uncle Siggy!" she announced. "I'll be back!"


	19. Chapter 19

Kjiersten wrapped her arms around Josh's waist as she snuck up behind him. He started in her arms and cut off what he was saying to look at her. His face widened to a grin and he shifted so she was beside him with an arm over her shoulders, exposing her fully to Norman.

"We were just talking about you."

"I suspected," she nodded. "Everything alright?"

Josh shrugged. "Good on my end. I've gotta call about some repairs. She," he cocked a thumb towards the boat, "keeps falling apart."

"Have fun with that. I'll see you tonight?" she murmured, thankful for his subtle excuse to leave them alone. Of course Josh knew what it was like to need time alone with your dad.

"I'll be there," he assured her. With a swift kiss, he climbed onto his boat and headed in.

Both Hansens were silent for a moment, shuffling their feet anxiously until Norman spoke. "I'm sorry."

"No, Dad, I'm sorry. I'm so ashamed about how I treated you."

"I deserved it."

"You didn't. You were never trying to keep him away from me; you just wanted to protect me. I understand that now."

"He makes you happy?"

"He does."

"Who was I to try and stop that?" he shrugged. "You love him."

"I do."

"Wasn't a question."

"I know," she mumbled, blushing at her shoes.

"He loves you. You're good for him. For the whole family. Jake looks better."

"He's doing that on his own," she corrected, eyes still focused on her shoes.

"No, he's not. He looks up to you."

"Dad," she shook her head and blushed deeper, "stop."

"Just sayin'. You've made a whole life for yourself. Hardly need me anymore."

"Oh, Daddy!" she laughed and threw her arms around him. "I'll always need you!" They hugged for a while, both apologizing for the events of the past month in the best way they knew how. When they pulled away, everything was forgiven; that was just their way.

"Do me a favor?" He nodded at her. "Talk to Dana."

"Since when do you tell me to talk to her? You don't like her."

"She's growing on me. And you love her. She's already here, anyway, so patch that up soon."

"Who says I love her?" he challenged playfully.

Kjiersten grinned and bumped his elbow with hers. "I know things. C'mon, I'll help carry your stuff."

With that, she grabbed one of his bags and walked to the boat with him just as if no time had passed at all. She helped him drop his stuff in their stateroom, but as soon as she saw Dana grab her camera to do some pre-season interviews, she shoved Norman towards the deck.

"What the hell are you doing to me?" he demanded.

"Speak to her," she ordered. "You sort your shit out with that woman."

"I don't think I appreciate your tone," Norman frowned as he was unceremoniously forced out onto the deck.

"I don't think I care," she countered. "I'll be around. Watching you," she pointed to her eyes then to him. "Always watching." Norman laughed as she slammed the door shut behind him, effectively sealing him out on deck so he couldn't see her run up to join her uncle in the wheelhouse.

"Well, now, what do I owe this visit to?" Sig raised his head from his charts as she dropped into Don's normal seat.

"I'm spying on my dad. Have you talked to Dana yet?"

"You're gonna have to be more specific. We've talked about several things. You might not have noticed, but as the captain of this boat, people kind of have to talk to me."

"That's a no," Kjiersten decided, leaning back from the window. Sig could tell by the look on her face that whatever she'd been looking for wasn't happening. She heaved a sigh and started pulling her hair back in a ponytail as she asked, "Any objection to me popping over to the Cornelia for a bit? Nope? Awesome, you're the best!"

"Now, you wait a second," Sig began, but she threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his forehead right where his hairline started, a move she'd been doing ever since she was a little kid and had to stand up on his lap to reach the spot. It melted his resolve every damn time. He sighed in defeat. "Be back soon, huh? We do actually work on this boat, you know."

She grinned at him. "Oh, it is so good to be back home."

* * *

Even though he'd never put stock in those cliché lines before, Norman actually felt his heart skip a beat when Dana breezed by him on deck. He caught the faintest whiff of that lavender shampoo she used as she passed, running towards Don to help him with a camera that was about to crash onto the deck, and his body had a physical reaction to it. Before he even had time to mentally process that she'd just passed by, he'd stopped moving and turned to watch her grab the camera so Don could try to wrench it into place. He blocked out the sounds of other crews yelling to each other and hauling supplies across the dock to hear her laugh at whatever comment Don grunted out and quip her own response back at him. If Edgar hadn't come up from the engine room, swearing over something or other, Norman might have crossed the deck to her. Maybe. Instead, he offered a hand to his little brother since that girl of his had already flown the coop again. Edgar refused before disappearing inside with a cloud of curses following him.

A few minutes later, Kjiersten breezed by from the wheelhouse. Norman frowned at her. "I didn't know you were still here."

"I'm not," she grunted, hopping the rail. "I'm on the Cornelia Marie. See you later."

"Behave," he called after her. She flashed her hand in what was either a thumb-up or the middle finger; it was too quick for him to tell.

The exchanged earned laughter from Dana and Don, who had apparently resolved their camera issue. "Sometimes I wonder about your family unit," Don grinned. Norman laughed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Seriously. With that strict discipline style? No wonder Kjiersten's so shy and timid."

"Shut up," Norman laughed. "She only walks all over us 'cuz we know she's a good kid. If she was as stupid as you, we'd actually try to keep her in line."

"Watch it now," Dana pointed with mock menace. "That's my producer you're talking about."

Norman opened his mouth to say something back to her, try to get a conversation going between them even if it was over something so trivial, but Sig chose that moment to come out of the wheelhouse. He stood overlooking the deck, saw his brother, and struck the oldest-brother-pose that Norman and Edgar used to mock behind his back as children. Hands on hips, chest out, legs shoulder-width apart, wind conveniently blowing his hair back, condescending grin.

"Norm, think you and Junior can stack these pots just the two of you?" Norm looked at the pots on deck that still needed stacked on the boat and then shrugged at his brother. "If you need the help, Matt's around somewhere, too." There was a pause as no one moved, then Sig announced, "Well…get to it!", and left Norman with no choice but to go hunt Jake and Matt down.


	20. Chapter 20

*****Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone! I always love getting your feedback. It's been cold and rainy here which is normally prime writing conditions for me, but I've been fighting a bit of a cold and didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted. Still, I've made some serious progress with this and will probably start wrapping it up soon.*****

Kjiersten's stomach flipped when Edgar pulled out that damn herring. He pushed it towards Jake and asked, "Junior?" conspiratorially. Jake held his hands up and backed away. Matt and Nick both offered glares that showed exactly what they thought of Edgar even considering that they take the fish. "No-orm!"

"No," Norman stated firmly. Edgar waved the fish in his older brother's face, and Kjiersten had to throw a hand over her mouth so she didn't laugh too obviously. Still, her father shot her a glare anyway. "Edgar. No."

"C'mon! You don't want the first pot to be shit, do ya?"

"Ed."

"Norm."

"No."

"Yes."

"Oh my lord," Kjiersten rolled her eyes and yanked the fish out of her uncle's hand. Before anyone could comment, she sank her teeth into the slimy fish, ripped the body away from her jaw, and gestured with the decapitated remains to her crewmates. After maybe 5 seconds, she spit the head overboard, and, waving the body, stated, "You're all a bunch of pussies, you know that?"

"Watch your mouth, Tyke," Edgar warned, but the proud grin on his face betrayed his true feelings. She tossed the fish body at him, which he caught expertly and tossed over the rail. She immediately took the water bottle Norman offered her and downed it, swishing and spitting occasionally to get the taste out.

"That looked disgusting," Dana commented as the crew prepared to dump their first official string. Kjiersten nodded as she spit the last of her water overboard.

"It was," she assured the older woman. Kjiersten grabbed the rail as the boat rocked, and she and Dana both swore under their breath. "How you holding up?"

"I'm fine. Don't start coddling me."

"I'm not coddling you. I'm coddling…" Kjiersten paused as Jake jogged by on the way to the bait station. "I'm coddling you-know-who in your you-know-what."

"The maturity level in your family overwhelms me sometimes," Dana rolled her eyes. "Get back to work, okay?" Kjiersten shot her a look and shook her head before joining her crew in dumping pots.

When Norman switched with Edgar to work the hydros a bit, Dana sidled up to him with her camera. "Any thoughts for the season?"

She really didn't know what to expect from him, and she certainly didn't expect the fairytale apology she'd dreamed up, but she did expect more than what she got. The old Norman, the Norman from the beginning of king season, appeared in full force. He shrugged without even looking at the camera.

"No thoughts?" He shook his head. "You're not gonna say a word to me, are you?" At that, the corner of his mouth flickered in what might have been a half-smile. "Well, I'm not going anywhere until you say something."

Norman raised his eyebrows at that but kept his attention focused on deck. Dana watched and waited for another 30 seconds before admitting defeat with a loud, "You're impossible!" that earned laughs from the crew. "Two can play that game, Norman Hansen," she muttered to herself as she filmed the rest of the on-deck activity.

* * *

Later, when they had gone inside for a brief break between test strings, Dana cut herself off from the group. She needed time to think. Think about how she could keep her secret, how she could tell a man that wouldn't say three words to her that she was having his child. So, while the rest of the crew laughed and joked over Matt's shepard's pie, she took her plate and slipped into the wet room to sit on the cold, slimy floor to sift through her thoughts.

She was so deep in concentration that she barely noticed anyone come in the room until Edgar slid down to sit next to her. As always, she jumped, which made him grin. "Didn't mean to startle ya."

"It's fine," she insisted. "Happens a lot around you people."

He grinned and let that comment slide. "So, why've you got yourself all cooped up in here?"

She opened her mouth to speak but stopped and thought for a moment first. "I just…needed to be alone, I guess."

"Cuz a' Norm?"

She chuckled at that. "Yeah, cuz of Norm."

"He can be an idiot sometimes, you know. Don't let it get to you. He'll come around."

"I don't understand him," she sighed, setting her plate down on the floor. Edgar winced, picked it up, and put it in his lap. "I don't want to be the clingy one night stand, but I know there was something there, Ed. It's like he doesn't trust me enough to try."

"That's not it," he assured her. "He trusts you. We all do; even Kjiersten does."

Dana smirked. "She's really coming around."

"She did a lot of thinking this off-season," he agreed. "And after spending a season with someone, you trust them. Norm trusts you with his life; he does. But things look different on land. Out here, when you could be gone like that," he snapped his fingers, "you're more willing to take that chance and go for what you really want. On land, all those other worries and insecurities creep in. Crabbers live two lives; the life on the boat, and the life on land. You're part of both of his lives, and you're getting tossed around because of it. He's confused, too; I can tell."

"I don't see why it's so different out here."

Edgar picked up the plate and shifted to face her better as he explained. "The Bering Sea is the last frontier. No police or anything, just a couple daredevils listening to the laws of one man. You have to trust each other with your lives, because there's no one else out here to save you in the end. There are people on this crab fleet I've never met before, but I'd trust them to take my nieces home on a dark night in a strange city over anyone else. Out here, things don't need to be written down or put on record. It is how it is, and everyone knows it."

She considered for a moment. "I guess I never thought of it that way."

"No, because you've still got 80 people to answer to. We don't. We answer to Sig. What he says goes, and we might bitch, because he makes some pretty stupid-ass calls, but the final say is his. This is a whole different world for us. So just give Norm some time. He'll figure this out."

"Better not take him too long," she mumbled as Edgar stood to go.

He paused and grunted, "What was that?"

"Huh?" she feigned innocence. "Nothing. Just thinking out loud. Thanks."

"Sure thing."

"Not for the talk. I meant for taking my plate in."

Edgar grinned and flipped her off before turning his back and leaving her, once again, to her thoughts.

* * *

Edgar smirked as Dana ran out of the wet room and barely made it to the bathroom in time to empty the contents of her stomach. Kjiersten squeezed her eyes shut and counted to 10 silently before continuing to put her gear on.

"Looks like a good old opillio winter finally got that girl's stomach churning!"

"Yeah," Kjiersten licked her lips as she fought with her glove. "I'm sure that's it."

"You got something on your mind?" Norman asked as he shoved her worn, frayed Mariners cap on her head. She made a face at the gesture he'd been doing ever since she was a little kid and readjusted the hat.

"Why would you think that?" she countered.

"You _have_ been acting kinda weird whenever the topic of Dana comes up," Edgar pointed out.

"Yeah," Matt piped up. "You've been _nice_."

"Shut up, Bradley, or I'll rip your balls off with a wrench."

He held his hands up in the air defensively. "Okay, I take it back. You're the biggest bitch I've ever met."

"Seriously," she warned, fumbling on the rack behind her without taking her eyes off of him. After an awkward moment, her hand found what it was looking for, and she whipped the wrench in front of her.

"I'll just be outside!" Matt chirped, and he slunk out with Jake, never one to stick around when that girl had a wrench, close on his heels. Nick Mavar laughed and let them know just how wimpy they were as he followed. Kjiersten looked out the empty door and broke into a grin.

"Look, Dad! It's sleeting sideways! Don't you just love fishing when it's sleeting sideways?"

"Smartass," he grumbled, pulling on his own baseball cap as he assessed the weather.

It was, in fact, sleeting sideways, and Sig was battling dangerously tall waves as the crew gathered to start hauling the string. Norman grumbled to himself as he followed Kjiersten and Edgar on deck, barely catching the door in time to let Dana scramble out.

"You feel ok?"

She started at his voice as if her mind had been somewhere else entirely. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just…you know…"

"Seasick?"

"Um…" she licked her lips and watched Kjiersten and Edgar go through the familiar motions of arguing over the shift's deck positions. "Guess so. Didn't get sick all last season, though."

"Weather's a bit rougher."

"Yeah," she nodded, noting that Kjiersten had predictably lost and relinquished the hook to her dad. She held it out impatiently, her back to them as she continued discussing something or other with Edgar. "That must be it. They're waiting for you."


	21. Chapter 21

*****Whew, what a week. As always, thanks so much for reading and reviewing. I finally got some time to sit down and write, and pretty much finished up this story. I'm feeling like there might be a sequel, though. I'll have to think about that one. If you've got an opinion, let me know!*****

When the crew was done eating, Dana stayed at the table as everyone else headed off to sleep. In her head, the whole crew would go to sleep and leave her there to wallow in self-pity for another hour or so before she would go grab some sleep herself. In actuality, though, Norman stayed at the table, too, and watched as she got up, emptied the contents of her stomach again, came back into the galley, and grabbed a cup of water. When she sat back down, he shifted so he was sitting next to her with room for maybe one person between them. She was too tired to deal with him right now, but her body wouldn't let her shift away, either.

"How you feeling?" he asked. She shrugged. "Don't give me that."

"I don't see why you care so much," she muttered to her hands.

"Dana," he started, but abandoned whatever he was about to say. His pause made her look up. "You've been drinking water a lot, right? You can get dehydrated really fast."

"Yeah," she sighed. "I'm drinking water."

"I do care, you know."

"I know. You just can't ever make anything simple, can you?" Before Norman had a chance to speak, which he might never have considering his track record, she pushed herself back up from the table. "I'm gonna go crash. Tell someone to wake me up when we're moving again." He watched her walk out and groaned when she was gone. All he wanted was to go fishing; why did the women in his life have to make it so much harder for him?

* * *

Winter winds whipped around the Northwestern crew as they hauled the last string before offload. The pots had to be good if they wanted to make their quota, because they'd been on crap numbers so far. Everyone knew it, too, and the tension on deck was thick. With what seemed like very little prompting, Kjiersten had threatened to castrate Matt right around the two-minute warning, which pretty much set the tone for the entire string. Eighteen hours later, in the dead of night, no one had much to say, but their glares showed that they sure were thinking a lot.

Edgar yelled something else at Jake, who set his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut to avoid snapping at his deck boss. Kjiersten patted Jake's shoulder as she squeezed behind him to go grab more bait. The roles seemed all jumbled on deck right now to Dana, who just couldn't get a grasp on anything at the moment. Edgar was on hydros and Norman was on the hook, but that was about all she could figure out. Jake and Kjiersten seemed to be taking turns running to the bait box, Matt and Nick kept switching at the rail to help pots on board, and every now and then an orange blur would pass her and she would have no idea who the hell it was. Maybe it was the storm, maybe it was her pounding headache, or maybe it was just the extreme lack of coffee in her bloodstream, but Dana was totally lost.

"Question," she pointed the camera at Kjiersten, who immediately rolled her eyes. "Stop whining."

"I'm not whining. Did you hear me say anything?" Kjiersten made a face before crawling in the pot to hang the bait. When she crawled out, she stepped aside and motioned for Dana to continue.

"Hang on, hang on!" Sig's voice cut across the deck, and everyone immediately grabbed the nearest object. For Dana and Kjiersten, that was the rail, and Dana winced as the shockingly cold wave washed over her like a sheet of ice and loosened her grip ever so slightly. When it had passed, she pointed the camera back at Kjiersten and continued on like nothing had happened because, if she had learned anything on this boat, it just didn't matter unless someone got seriously hurt.

"Why's everyone so uptight right now?"

Kjiersten shrugged and glanced at her dad. "This weather's shit and our quota's due soon. Life sucks right now."

"But you're hauling good numbers. Shouldn't you be excited?"

"Oh, we're fucking thrilled about the numbers. Speaking of," she turned from the sorting table and held up three fingers, then two, then seven. "Three-two-seven. Three twenty-seven."

Dana followed as Kjiersten headed to the rail to the stack to tie up the pot. Even though Don hated when she climbed on the stack, and Kjiersten shot her disapproving looks now because of her "condition", she still scrambled up after the young woman. She felt Norman watching them, but her inner cynic decided he was keeping a protective eye on his daughter, not on her. From up there, she could both continue the interview and get a good shot of the deck. She kept the camera focused on Kjiersten's hands, which flew deftly over the ties. The young woman tied the knots as if it was marked exactly where they went; she had this down to a science, and that level of competence amazed Dana. They weren't particularly high, only one pot-height up, so when Kjiersten finished tying, she carefully lowered herself over the edge and hopped down. Dana was just about to follow when the next wave came.

It was hard to say who exactly called, "Man overboard!" first. Maybe Sig was first on the hailer, watching his monitor for the slightest problem. It could have been Norman, who had kept a careful eye on Dana since she'd climbed onto the stack. Maybe it was Kjiersten, screaming at the top of her lungs as she lunged for the life preserver and ran at the rail.

Edgar grabbed his niece's arm and reached for the life preserver, but she pulled it away from his reach. "Let me throw it!" he snapped at her., but she shook her head and grabbed a spare line. The rest of the crew stood at the rail, fighting for a glimpse of orange in the dark waters of the Bering, but Edgar and Norman had a different focus. They watched in blatant confusion as Kjiersten grabbed the line and tied it first around her waist, then around the preserver.

"What the hell are you doing?" Norman snapped as she approached the rail. She checked the buoys on the end nervously and glanced out at the water, which was all the answer he needed. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to face him, which made her set her jaw and squeeze her eyes shut in an irritated look he knew too well. "You are _not_ jumping in after her. Why the hell would you even consider that?"

"It's the best way to find her!" Kjiersten snapped right back, ripping her arm out of his grasp. "She won't last long in the water."

"Neither will you!"

"It's the only way!"

"You have to think about your safety, too, Kjiersten!" He grabbed her arm again as she approached the rail, but he knew better and held on too tightly for her to shake him off. That pissed her off even more as she shoved the buoys into Edgar's dumbfounded hands.

In a split-second decision she didn't mean to make, Kjiersten blurted, "Fuck my safety, Dad. She's pregnant!"

A thousand pound weight settled in Norman's chest. He dropped her forearm and stepped back as the sentence, snapped so bluntly it couldn't be anything but true, sunk in. He looked to Edgar for confirmation, but, judging by the slack jaw and wide eyes mirrored on his brother's face, this was news to them all.

"Throw the buoys like you would for a pot, but away from me," she ordered as if she hadn't just dropped that bombshell on everyone else. To herself, not loud enough for anyone else to even hear, she muttered, "Josh, please don't kill me for this," and, with a deep breath, plunged into the Bering.

The waves that washed onto the deck were nothing compared to the overwhelming cold that wrapped around her body as soon as she hit the water. Suddenly, deciding to switch Jake's with the Cornelia a few seasons back by dropping them in the water seemed immensely stupid. With that completely unproductive thought in her head, she sputtered water and thrust an arm above the surface to let the crew know she was alright. She used that arm to grab hold of the life preserver and drag herself above the surface of the tumultuous water.

"The bow!"

Jake Anderson's voice rang above even the roaring of the Bering, as if his voice had more power behind it than usual. She turned in the direction he pointed and, sure enough, there was the glimpse of orange she needed.

As a child, Kjiersten would cry the entire drive to the YMCA for her swimming lessons, and sat in completely silence on the way home. She hated them mostly because her instructor was this gorgeous redheaded teenage girl that she once overheard gushing to another instructor about how Norman was such a great man to raise a child all by himself. At age 7, she'd already developed a deep hatred for pity.

Now, at 25, she really wished she'd taken those lessons to heart a bit more. Swimming to Dana against the current of the Bering was not something she felt prepared for, and she actually had to stop a few feet away because she just didn't have the arm strength to fight anymore. She did, however, have enough strength to toss the life preserver and let out a sharp yell of, "Dana! Behind you!". The older woman barely grabbed the preserver, but it was enough. Kjiersten felt the line pull tight behind her as Edgar threw the hook to pull them back in. When they got close enough to the boat, Kjiersten grabbed the hook and forced it into Dana's hands so she could be hauled onto the deck, holding onto the buoys until the hook was lowered back down for her.

About five years later, or thirty seconds by real-time, Kjiersten collapsed onto the deck and Edgar immediately sliced the rope around her waist and threw a towel around her. She let him scrub her hair like she was a child coming out of the bathtub and allowed Nick and Matt to lead her behind the train of Dana, Norman, and Jake into the galley.

"You know something?" Edgar grunted, hoisting her onto his bunk because Dana's gang had taken over the galley. Kjiersten looked at him stupidly through her slightly hypothermic haze. "You're a complete idiot."

"Love you, too," she grinned as the men began pulling her gear off.

"Seriously. That was a stupid risk." She shrugged as he toweled off her head again with a bit more fervor to show just how stupid he thought she had been. When he pulled the towel away, his eyes were soft and the corners of his mouth were tilted up ever so slightly. He bent foreward to pull her hoodie over her head, and he used the opportunity to whisper in her ear, "I'm proud of you, Tyke."

"Thanks, Uncle Eddie."

He nodded, pulled her long-sleeve Alaskan Crab shirt off next, and frowned as its removal revealed just how many layers she wore that he now had to take off. He grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt and grunted matter-of-factly, "Just so you know, you've sure got a hell of a lot of explaining to do."


	22. Chapter 22

*****Norman gets a little OC this chapter, which I apologize for, but I felt the scene called for it. Everyone acts a little uncharacteristically sometimes, right? I didn't mean to go a week without posting (I really try to keep on top of that, I swear), but time kind of got away from me. I still own nothing to do with Deadliest Catch or Discover or any of that, and, as always, I welcome your comments and reviews. Thanks for reading!*** **

"So, babe, don't be mad at me."

"What did you do?" Josh smirked into the phone, knowing that whatever came out of Kjiersten's mouth next was going to give him a heart attack. Kjiersten briefly considered lying, but Edgar and Sig were both holding her coffee hostage until she fessed up, and she was too cold and tired to fight them for it.

"I might possibly have maybe jumped overboard to _save someone's life _and I swear I'm totally okay so you shouldn't freak out or anything but I thought you should know and listen to me I'm totally safe YAY!" she announced in one quick breath. Josh stayed silent for a moment on his end of the phone. The silence bugged her as several quick scenarios ran through her mind, so she bounced her leg up and down as she waited impatiently for his reaction.

Finally, he sighed, and she knew that meant he was messaging his forehead and eyes in that way he did when he was absorbing news. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

"Nope."

"Did you save him?"

"Her, actually, and, yes, Dana's doing just fine. So am I, thanks for your concern," she rolled her eyes sarcastically.

"Oh, don't even," he chuckled. "I know you're fine or else your uncles would have called instead of making you do it."

"Who says they made me call?" she challenged.

"You wouldn't have called on your own. Don't even play that game."

"You might be correct," she admitted. "BUT, I look like a marshmallow right now. Seriously, I have three pairs of sweatpants, two long sleeved shirts, a t-shirt, a hoodie, a blanket, two gloves on each hand, and three pairs of socks. I feel like a whale."

"I want pictures."

"Most people want pictures of their girlfriend without clothes on."

"Okay, this conversation is so over," Sig reached for the phone, but she flinched away and batted at his hand. He laughed as her padded hand hit his and let her continue.

"Okay, Uncle Sig's making me hang up, and I really need to pee anyway. They just wanted you to know how amazing I was today."

"I'm sure they wanted me to know how stupid you were, actually."

"Shut up," she wrinkled her nose. "Love you. G'bye."

"Wait." She paused and put the phone back to her ear. "You were amazing today, babe. And I love you, too. Now stop being an idiot."

* * *

Dana's teeth chattered as she pulled her blanket even more tightly around herself and watched Kjiersten amble through the galley with her hands firmly clamped around the coffee mug she'd won back from her uncles. She passed by without a word, came back a bit later without her hoodie and gloves, and finally noticed Dana sitting there. The young girl paused when they made eye contact, offered a weak smile, and shook her head.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Dana frowned. Kjiersten opened her mouth to say something but instead forced down a sip of coffee when Norman came down from the wheelhouse. Immediately, Kjiersten's gaze hit the floor to avoid the glare he sent her way, and she squeezed against the wall so he had enough room to get past her. As soon as he was, she scooted up the steps into the wheelhouse and left the two alone in the galley.

He was about to breeze by Dana but instead stopped and hung in front of the table, gaze on the ceiling, for a few seconds. When he did turn to her, she understood why Kjiersten had made such a quick exit. She'd never seen him angry before, but this must be what it looked like.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" she frowned slowly, looking first at him, then at the kitchen as she thought about how wonderful something to drink would be. As if he could read her mind, he stalked by, grabbed a water bottle, uncapped it, stalked back, and shoved it at her. "Thank you…?"

"Is the baby mine?"

"Oh." Even though she immediately wanted to ask how falling overboard made him figure out the secret she felt she'd kept rather well, she kept that question to herself. Somehow, she just didn't think it would be the right thing to say. "Yes. It's yours."

"Dammit, Dana, why the hell didn't you tell me?"

She flinched when he smacked his palm off the table and turned away from her. What right did he have to be angry? Wasn't she the one that just got washed into the Bering Sea, for Christ's sake? The only thing he could think to do now was yell at her? Really? No, that was not alright. "And when was I supposed to tell you, Norm?" she countered. "You've barely said three words to me this whole trip!"

"I just sat down with you before this string, and _you_ wouldn't talk to _me_!"

"Because I'm tired of you playing games with me! You can treat me like shit and I'll probably take it, but no way in hell will I have you doing that to my child."

"Oh, so it's just _your_ child now? Since when can you even have a baby?"

"They said it was a long shot, not impossible. Clearly, you never listened to me closely."

"Well, maybe if you actually told me important things, maybe that you were _pregnant with my child_, then, I'd pay attention!"

"Why would I sign up to have you pull me in and push me away whenever you feel like it? I don't need that, and neither does our child!"

"Don't. You know I'm not like that," he growled, slapping his hands onto the table so he could lean across towards her.

"No, I don't know that," she shook her head, refusing to lean away from his looming face. "What have you done to prove you're not like that?"

"You know I'm a good father."

"Oh, no, you're an amazing father. But, from what I'm seeing, you're a pretty shitty man to love! I don't want my child to be raised by someone who's so torn about what he wants in life; it's not fair to the kid. You need to figure out what you want."

"I want to know why the hell you came fishing when you're pregnant!"

"Because it was the only way to get you to act like I was alive!"

In the wheelhouse, Sig and Edgar all flinched and shared a look before staring back at the waves crashing on deck, and Kjiersten joined them in sighing heavily as she talked to her aunt on the sat phone. Matt rolled over in his bunk and forced his pillow over his head. Jake shoved his headphones in tightly and cranked the volume, and Nick sighed and shook his head, wishing he could be as absorbed in his book as that boy was in his music. None of them wanted to hear any more of the fight echoing through the entire fishing vessel, cutting above even the sounds of the raging storm outside.

"When we offload, you're getting off this boat and going home. You shouldn't be out here." Norman shook his head. With one final slap of the table and glare, he stormed towards his stateroom.

Dana yelled, "I'm staying on this boat until we figure this shit out!" at his retreating back, so, to have the last word, he whirled around in his doorway and snapped, "Stop being such a fucking child!" and disappeared with a slam.


	23. Chapter 23

"That's it," Kjiersten snapped loudly enough to cut over Nick's voice as he checked up on Dana. Kjiersten ran down from the wheelhouse, through the galley, burst open the door to her and her father's stateroom, and announced, "Hansen family meeting." When Norman didn't move, just stared at her dumbly, she added a stern, "Now," for emphasis.

He headed up obediently to join his brothers. Sig looked out at the gently rolling water, which had calmed significantly now that the wind and rain had stopped. Sometime in the last hour, while the crew had been caring for their two women, it had calmed down outside. Don sat very still and hoped they'd forget there was still a camera in the room; this could be good footage.

"You, Dad, are being a dumbass." Edgar snorted his agreement. "Uncle Eddie," she warned. He mimed zipping his lips shut. "How many people have to get hurt out here before you realize life's too damn short to push Dana away?"

"Yeah," Sig turned to face his little brother, "what the hell _are_ you doing?"

"Even Uncle Sig knows you're being an idiot, Dad, so you're really on bad ground here."

"Now, what the hell does that-"

"Uncle Sig," she held a hand up sharply without turning her gaze away from her dad, "not now. Look, considering I did kind of almost kill myself today, I'm feeling qualified to tell you're stupid; I'm not going to let you hide from life when there are other people fighting through so much more right now. Live your life! Be glad you have it."

Sig carried on when his niece ran out of words. "After Hanna, you know we only have so much time. Here's a woman that's interested and that you obviously like. Give it a shot."

The family fell silent as Norman struggled for words, hating when they ganged up on him like this. He looked pleadingly to Edgar, who had stayed silent so far. At his older brother's appeal, the youngest Hansen boy took a deep breath and spoke. "It's ok to move on. You're not betraying her. Being happy is exactly what she'd want for you."

"You don't know what she'd think about this. How can I be with someone else?"

"We knew Hanna," Sig reminded him.

"I didn't." All eyes turned to Kjiersten. "What? I'm not going to stand here and tell you it's what mom would want. I don't know. But I do know that none of you have any clue, either. No one knows. You can't live your life based on pretenses _you_ made up but credit to _her_. It's not fair to either of you. What I can say for sure is that everyone knows you will always love her; you're not replacing Mom with Dana. There's nothing wrong with being happy and loving again. I want you happy, and you're happy with Dana."

There was silence as Norman and Kjiersten had one of their silent conversations. She reached up to wipe the lone tear off of his cheek. He pulled his daughter into a hug that she returned, and Sig and Edgar nodded at each other knowingly.

"Do you love her?" Sig broke the silence.

Norman looked up without breaking the embrace. "Yeah. I do."

"You've got two hours before we hit the port. Go talk to her."

"She lied to me."

"About the baby? She didn't tell any of us about that," Edgar shook his head.

"She told Kjiersten."

"I figured it out," Kjiersten corrected, then added, "because I'm a genius. She was going to tell you before the end of the season, but even I can't blame her for not wanting her first conversation with you since the whole baby-making episode to be breaking that news. If you hadn't been such a coward, she would have told you sooner."

"Do you have to call me names every time you talk?"

"If you'd go talk to Dana already, I wouldn't have to, Dumbo."

"Alright," Norman held his hands up and tilted one corner of his mouth up in the tiniest of grins. "I give. This is me going to talk to Dana."

"Civilly!" Kjiersten insisted as she and her uncle's followed him. "I don't want to hear you this time!"

The crew knew to clear the galley when the Hansen's came back downstairs, mostly because of the looks Kjiersten and Sig shot them. Matt and Nick vanished quickly, Kjiersten called Jake up to the wheelhouse to keep her amused as she did her watch, and Edgar and Sig both headed off to get some much deserved rest.

Dana sighed to her water as Norman leaned against the counter next to her. "Can we talk?" She shrugged. "Kay, you be quiet. I'll talk." She raised her eyebrows at this intriguing role reversal. "I've been an ass."

Even though she wanted to agree with him, she fought the urge and gave him the same silent treatment he gave her. This obviously flustered him, and he licked his lips and let his mouth form several different words before talking again. "I told myself I was worried about Kjiersten, so I pushed us to the background, but she had nothing to do with it. I was scared. I've been alone for a long time, y'know. Twenty years now. I didn't, I _don't_ know how to do this. To love someone. I felt like I was betraying her or letting her down, and I felt that I could never give you what you needed because part of my heart is always going to belong to her. I still feel that way a little, but I love you. I don't want to ruin this because I've…got some things I need to deal with. I should have dealt with them a long time ago, but no one ever made me. You make me want to deal with those feelings, and if you're willing to give me another chance…"

Dana took a slow, measured sip of water. Then, she put her cup on the counter and watched her hand as she gently looped her fingers through his. "I love you, too."

"And I didn't mean to be so upset about the baby. It was just a lot to take in, almost losing you and having that news dumped on me all at once. I yelled because I care, if that makes any sense. I care a whole hell of a lot."

"I know," she muttered. One hand wriggled out of her blanket to gently brush his cheek. "You just confuse the shit out of me. You're not allowed to change your mind next week or something."

"So, does that mean you'll give me another chance?" he asked hopefully, not daring to let his smile show yet. She did, however, and she grinned like he was a toddler asking for a cookie.

"I'll give you another chance," she nodded. It was very clear that Norman was the one who leaned into her, let his lips brush hers, deepened the kiss and drew it out until she felt heady and needed to come up for air.

"Something's wrong."

He never could make it a question, could he? She grimaced at that, both hating and loving how intuitive his branch of the Hansen family could be. Norman and Kjiersten could see through anything, any false front you put up, to the problems underneath.

"You're not just signing onto a relationship with me, Norman. And I understand if you're not ready to make this jump yet. I mean, it's a big leap from-"

"Dana," he squeezed her hand firmly, "the only concern I have is that I'm gonna have to change diapers again. I always swore I'd never change anymore diapers."

"Norm!" she took her hand out of his and smacked his arm as she turned to face him and confirmed that, yes, he was smirking at her. "This is serious!"

"I'm being serious," he assured her.

"Your big concern right now is diapers?" she smirked.

"I hate diapers," he nodded. "Passionately. I'll change 'em, don't worry. I just can't stand diapers. Always stick my hands to them or something stupid." He smirked again. "It's just not what I expected, y'know? Us having a baby. I'm old enough to be a grandpa. Probably'll get that news, too, any time now."

"I'm not exactly a spring chicken, either," she admitted. "But older women than me have had children. Are you really okay with this?"

"I'll get over the diaper situation because I want you," he grinned, but sobered and continued with, "and I want this long-shot baby of ours. It might not be exactly the order I'd like things to happen in, but I wouldn't have this go any other way." She smiled and gave his hand a squeeze. "But, seriously, I really think you should consider not being on the boat right now."

"I'll call and see if I can get a replacement. If Sig's willing to wait, they'll have someone this offload I bet. If not, definitely by the next one."

"You," Norman ruffled her hair, "are a beautiful woman. Can I kiss you again?"

She laughed. "Yes, Norman. You can kiss me again."


	24. Chapter 24

*****We're reaching the end of this story. I considered a sequel, and still am I suppose, but it probably won't be anytime soon. I've got some ideas for other, non-DC things that I want to explore a little bit. Plus I'm busier than I thought this summer, so it'll be a while before I do much of anything. But there's still a little bit more of this left. There's one more loose end to tie up! As always, thank you for reading and reviewing, and I still own absolutely nothing.*****

"I don't much like having a pregnant woman sitting in my seat," Sig frowned at the patio seat Dana was currently filling. She leaned her head back to grin at him, and Norman offered an equally childish smile. "Both of you are ridiculous."

"You can't seriously be asking me to move, Sig. I'm 7 months pregnant!" Dana fake-pouted, which made Edgar smirk as he flipped burgers on the grill.

"That's _exactly_ why I wish you weren't in my chair. If you weren't pregnant, I could kick your ass out. But since you had to go and knock her up," he motioned with his beer bottle to Norman, "she gets to do whatever the hell she wants. Including sitting in my chair."

"Technically," Kjiersten interrupted from her position across the table from her dad, between Jake and Josh Harris, "it's our chair. Or did you forget whose house you were out?"

"Don't you start giving me attitude now, Tyke. I'm still allowed to kick your ass."

"Hurry, Josh, let's go get me pregnant," she ordered as she half stood and tugged gently on his hand. Jake, Edgar, and Dana found great humor in the situation and laughed. Josh laughed, too, and pulled her back onto his lap to plant a kiss solidly on her neck. Sig and Norman, however, shared a look and shook their heads.

"Sex jokes are officially banned from the patio."

"Again, it's my patio. We get to make the rules," Kjiersten corrected.

"I'm your father. I get to veto unless you want out of the will," Norman countered. Kjiersten narrowed her eyes but had no comeback and opted to instead cross her arms and sink into Josh's body with an overly dramatic pout.

"New house rule," Jake began, but Kjiersten firmly kicked his knee to shut him up. When Josh had asked her to move in with him around mid-February, the three young adults decided they really needed a new place to live and had invested in a house they could rent for the months of the year they'd actually inhabit it with the option to eventually buy it. Secretly, Kjiersten loved the picturesque ranch-style house with the burgundy shutters and little garden out back that none of them had any desire to care for and hoped that she could spend the rest of her life in this little country home that rested half an hour from her father's house.

"No new house rules," Josh shook his head. "Your rules are messed up."

"My rules are in the best interest of the household," Jake insisted.

"That's highly debatable," Kjiersten shook her head. Dana laughed at the byplay between the three and gave Norman's hand a squeeze. She'd been worried about intruding on his relationship with his daughter when she'd moved in after the opie season ended, but their relationship was still just as strong, and it was clear-as-day that Kjiersten was paving her own way now with the Harris boys. It was nice to watch this new family forming right in front of her eyes as she was on the verge of having a new family herself.

"I'm gonna pee. Don't eat all the burgers," she ordered. Norman kissed the fingers of their joined hands before she disappeared through the sliding doors, then immediately sat up and started fussing with his pockets.

"You lost it, didn't you?" Kjiersten rolled her eyes.

"I did _not_ lose it," he insisted. "And, hey, find your own seat. You can't share while I'm sitting right here." He motioned to how she was still sitting on Josh's lap, which made the latter blush and her roll her eyes as she moved back to the seat she'd been in before. "Ah ha!" He produced a black velvet box and put it dead-center on Dana's paper plate. "Look good?"

"Look's great. It's a box."

"Jake," Kjiersten rolled her eyes. "You can leave, you know."

"I'm just saying!" he held his hands up, but Kjiersten reached across Josh and smacked him anyway.

"Did you figure out a nice speech, Dad?"

"Nope," he shook his head. "I'm winging it."

"This is gonna be good," Edgar shook his head and looked at Josh for confirmation. Josh just shrugged and tucked Kjiersten's hair behind her ear so it stopped blowing in his face. Dana scooted back outside, grabbed her red plastic cup, and disappeared back inside without even a glance at the table. Norman stared after her, mouth open, brow furrowed. "Correction. This is gonna be fantastic."

She came back out sipping some of the sweet tea Josh had carefully taught Kjiersten how to make that morning and sunk back into her chair. "Kier, this is really good."

"Thanks," Kjiersten nodded. "Glad you like it."

"I do," Dana nodded. She leaned forward to set it down, saw the box, and immediately missed the table and spilled tea all over her feet. Norman motioned to clean it up, but Dana whacked his shoulder and the unexpected violence made him freeze. "That's not." He looked up to see her pointing at the ring box on her plate, eyes frozen wide.

"That…is?" he frowned. "Open it."

"I know what it is. I don't want to open it."

"Is that a no?"

"No."

"So…wait…Was _that_ a no?"

"Please tell me you have a better speech than this planned, Norm," she shook her head. Edgar snorted at that, and Norman shot him a look.

"He doesn't," Sig assured her.

"Figures. You're going to spend at least ten seconds telling me how wonderful I am before I open this box. Your time starts now."

"Seriously?" She raised her eyebrows pointedly. "You know you're wonderful. And if you gave me more time, I would have a whole speech for you. I was just too damn nervous to have something planned. I don't want to live without you, Dana, which isn't something I ever thought I'd say again. I've spent a long time thinking about what it's going to be like when we start our family, but I realized that we actually already have. I love you, and I want to be with you. So…" he gently nudged the plate towards her, "will you marry me?"

She tried to keep a neutral face as she flipped open the box, but the ring that glittered up at her made her break into a smile that lit up her face. She threw her arms around his neck and exclaimed, "Yes, of course I'll marry you, Norman."

"Oh, thank God," Edgar sighed. "Now we can eat!"

* * *

The gentle early-September breeze ruffled the trees as Josh stared at the stone in front of him. He glanced back at Kjiersten, and she encouraged him forward. He looked back at the marker, made a face, looked back at her, and shook his head.

"Babe, I don't know about this."

"Josh, c'mon. It's your dad."

"It's a tombstone."

"Don't start this," she warned as she wrapped an arm loosely around his waist. "You were the one who wanted to come here; if you don't want to do this, I really should get back and make sure Jake's actually vacuuming like he promised."

"He's not," Josh assured her. She smirked at that and rested her head on his shoulder. "I just don't know what to say."

"Whatever you would say if your dad was really in front of you."

"See, you've got this down to an art form; it's not really as easy as you think it is."

"It's not as dramatic as you're making it, either," she rolled her eyes. "There has to be something you want to say."

"Well," he licked his lips, "yeah, there is, I guess."

"Then, I'll be over there looking at the really old stones," she pointed a bit down the line with an excited grin. "Come get me when you're done."

"Old stones? Really?"

"They were people, too, you know," she smacked his arm. "You know where to find me."

"No," he chuckled and grabbed her arm to pull her back to him, "you can stay." To emphasize this, he looped his fingers through hers and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I can say all this with you here." She wiggled experimentally, but Josh held fast. "Don't try to escape."

"I'm intrigued," she smirked. "What's going on?"

"I'm talking to my dad. Clearly." She smirked. "Right, Dad? …Yup, see, we're talking. He agrees." That made her laugh. "What was that, Dad? Kjiersten's a beautiful woman? Well, yeah, I already knew that."

"Josh," she rolled her eyes.

"Shut up," he shook his head. "I'm listening to my Dad tell me what a wonderful woman you are and how lucky I am to have you in my life." She blushed and looked down at their feet. He rested his chin on top of her head and continued. "Huh, Dad? I should ask her to marry me because I love her so damn much and want to spend the rest of my life with her? Well, I guess I could do that."

"Josh!" she squealed and tried to break away again. "You're not serious."

"Hey, this is coming straight from my dad; you bet your ass I'm serious. What do you think?"

"About marrying you?"

"Yeah."

"Sure."

"Wait, really?" he raised his eyebrows. "I don't have a ring or anything. I kinda made this shit up on the spot. Like, I didn't even consider this 'til maybe two minutes ago."

"I know," she laughed and tilted her head back to gently peck his lips. "That's what's so damn sweet. How can I resist such a well-planned proposal?"


	25. Chapter 25

*****This is it, the final chapter! I already miss writing about Kjiersten and Dana. I don't think their stories are finished, though, so there might be a sequel eventually. I really don't know yet. BUT, thank you all so much for reading my story and reviewing. I hope you enjoyed reading it at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it!*****

The tree immediately outside was just beginning to change to a bright orange as Kjiersten looked outside. A light breeze shook its leaves and the sun peaked out timidly from behind the last of the heavy clouds. A storm had passed through earlier, leaving the world damp but fresh and clean.

Dana was asleep behind her on the bed with Norman curled up next to her. Edgar, Sig, and Josh were out in the hall talking about exactly how intelligent it was for the eldest Harris to propose without consulting the Hansen men. Kjiersten smiled at the memory of their faces when she and Josh made the announcement. Dana had immediately pulled her into a hug, Norman offered a proud smile from just over his fiancé's shoulder that showed just how unsurprised he was, and her two uncles immediately swore. Probably the only reason Josh hadn't been killed on the spot was the contractions that had made all the men flip shit. Norman had actually been the calmest of the four, but even he had made some rookie mistakes. Kjiersten ended up taking over the show, right down to driving the car. But only after she made Sig and Edgar promise to go easy on Josh for being spontaneous instead of asking the three of them for permission. They'd agreed, mostly to get her to start the damn car already, but she knew Josh was fighting a war in hushed whispers out in the hallway.

"You might have saved his life," she murmured to the tiny bundle in her arms. The wrinkly purplish-red face scrunched up in response to her voice, which made her smile broaden. "Well, for a little bit, anyway. But at least if they hurt him here, he's already in the hospital. There's a chance they could save him." The face moved again and a pair of ice blue eyes looked up at her. "Well, hello, there," she laughed, gently bopping the baby's nose.

A tiny fist wrapped around her finger and held it in place. This child would be left handed, she'd bet any money on it. The grip was strong for something so small, and Kjiersten let the baby hold on as she looked back out the window. When the baby let go, she used her now-free hand to play with the thin wisps of blonde hair tousled much like their father's as he slept behind them.

"Look at these people," she whispered, turning around so they were looking at Dana and Norm as they slept. "Watch out for your mom. She's a force of nature. The woman nearly refused to come to the hospital because we had important family matters to discuss. She's crazy. Don't inherit that." Kjiersten looked down at the gaping yawn the infant let loose. "You know what?" she grinned. "Some of that might not be so bad. It'll counteract Dad's genes. He'll drive you insane, just so you know. I mean, you'll want to punch him in the face sometimes. I do. Quite frequently. But, then again, he always babied me. Oh, pardon the pun." The baby blinked. "Eh, you don't care," she shrugged. "He might coddle you, too, actually. You really should have hung on a couple more weeks; being premature was your first mistake. Sure hope you won't ever want to go crabbing; no way he'll let you. I had to bust my ass to get anywhere near that boat. Aw hell, don't tell them I swore in front of you." The baby blinked again, watching Kjiersten's face as she switched between talking to the bundle in her arms and talking more to herself. She sat in the chair next to the window and gently bounced the baby. The face wrinkled, and she stopped.

"Don't like that, huh? I'll stop." She looked at Norman and Dana and smiled faintly. "They'll be damn good parents to you. Don't tell them about that one either. Dad…he's great. I mean, you _will_ want to kill him. But you'll love him. And your mom? She's…she's a great woman. I didn't like her at first, but, damn, she's winning me over. Persistent as fuck, doesn't give up on anything. You'll probably want to kill her at some point, too. But that's family, isn't it? You scream at each other one minute and laugh together the next. And, sweetheart, you were born into the best damn family around."

"Kjiersten." Norman's voice made her jump, which made the baby hiccup. He slowly opened his eyes, and she knew by the sly smile on his face that he'd been awake much longer than he'd let on. "You just swore 5 times in front of the baby. And you talked about murder."

"Well, I'm…" she frowned at the baby, then looked back at him with a desperate, pleading smile. "Life lessons, Daddy! She's gotta learn from someone."

"She's 7 hours old."

"I'm already behind!"

"You're ridiculous." Dana's voice made her jump again, and the baby's face wrinkled in a tell-tale pre-wail scrunch. Kjiersten immediately bit her lip, leapt to her feet, and scurried to her father.

"Take her." He raised his eyebrows and looked between his two children. "Dad. Take. The. Baby." He just stared at Kjiersten with that same amused smile on his face, and she started to say something that Dana knew instinctively needed to be cut off before the baby's first words were something she couldn't record.

"You two are both ridiculous," she shook her head and took the baby gently from Kjiersten just as the wailing began. "She's probably just tired, and for two people that never talk, you can't seem to shut up now."

"I don't need this abuse," Kjiersten shook her head as the door to the room creaked open and Josh slipped back in. Dana laughed before she and Norman got distracted by trying to calm the baby. Josh sat by the window with his head resting against the wall. She pulled over the chair by the bed that Norman had abandoned and sat next to him. "I made the baby cry."

"Wait, let me put on my shocked face."

"Shut up," she hit his arm, and they both laughed. "I don't need even more shit from you. How bad were my uncles?"

Josh shrugged. "I'm still alive. They were messing with me more than anything. I think. But they did threaten to burn my car if I hurt you."

"Yeah, that sounds like them," she agreed. "Where'd they go?"

"Food, I think." He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes as he let out a heavy sigh.

"How are you holding up?" she asked, gently running a hand across his forehead and up through his hair. He opened his eyes, sighed again, reached up, and took her hand.

"I'm okay, I guess. I just haven't been in a hospital…you know…since Dad."

"Yeah," she murmured softly, "I know. I thought of it before. You wanna get out of here?"

"You should stay," he shook his head.

"C'mon. Let's at least walk around a bit. Get you moving." He let her pull him to his feet and lead them out of the room. "I'll tell you what, that kid looks like an alien." Josh raised his eyebrows. "Seriously, she's the wrong color and her head is pointed and…that's not a human. I always knew something was off with Dana, but I had no idea she was part demon."

"All babies look like that. She'll be the right shape and color soon enough," Josh laughed, bumping his shoulder against hers playfully. They wandered casually into the gift shop and walked together through the few small aisles of items.

"She's got our eyes. Hansen eyes, I mean. And the blonde hair, at least for now. But she has Dana's nose. And Beelzebub's chin." Josh laughed. "I'm serious. I love her to pieces, but she might be the anti-christ. I think we should prepare ourselves, Josh."

"I'll put a priest on speed-dial," he rolled his eyes. She laughed again and picked up a stuffed elephant. It was yellow with green polka dots, fuzzy, and slightly flat and limp to be the kind of toy that would last years and be completely beaten up but be in the same exactly shape as the day it was purchased.

"I have one of these," she muttered. "I mean, mine's pink, and it sits. And the trunk's bent so it looks like she's spraying herself. But…a stuffed elephant. You know."

"You want to get it for Elena?" he asked, taking the elephant gently from her hands. She nodded quietly and let him lead her towards the cash register. "Then, we'll get it for her. Every Hansen girl should have a stuffed elephant."

"Uncle Eddie got me Bellie when Mom died."

"Well," he swallowed as he found the right words, "you've come full-circle, then. Now you can give Elena her elephant to celebrate your new family." He knew she liked his words even though she stayed totally silent. She watched him pay and let him lead her back towards the hospital room. "Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"If we ever have a daughter, I want to name her after my mom."

"And if we ever have a son, I want to name him after my dad."

"Okay," she nodded. "I like that. But, Josh?"

"Yeah?" He smirked as they paused outside Dana's room and patiently let her thought process continue.

"Let's not have kids anytime soon."

"There's too much going on right now."

"I don't like when they cry," she shook her head, and he laughed.

"I agree, no time soon. But when we do, babies tend to cry a lot, you know," he kissed her forehead.

"Yeeeah, that's gonna be a problem," she made a face. "You'll have to deal with that."

"No, I don't think so," he shook his head. "Parenthood doesn't work that way." He pushed open the door to the room before she could respond, and everyone turned to look at them as they entered. Sig and Edgar had come back while they were gone and immediately shoved foil-wrapped burgers at them. "Hey, Norman, if Dana told you that you had to deal with the baby every single time it cried, what would you do?"

"Um…" he licked his lips and frowned at his oldest daughter, knowing this question was somehow prompted by something stupid that she'd said. "Probably laugh."

"He would," Dana agreed, handing Elena to the nurse so they could wash her. "Then, I would, too, because no way in hell would I let him handle the baby alone."

"Would you all stop swearing in front of Elena?" Norm exclaimed. "She's going to pick up bad habits."

"Dad," Kjiersten laughed, "look at this family. She was _born_ with bad habits."

"Yeah, she was," Dana agreed. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

She watched as Josh and Kjiersten sat down on the floor, backs against the wall, to eat their burgers. They sat almost on top of each other so it was hard to tell quite what limb belonged to whom; the right side of her body and the left side of his were almost perfectly meshed together. Sig began lecturing Norman on what it was like to have a baby because, as he said, it had been too damn long since Norm had one and clearly he needed the words of an "expert". Edgar stood a foot or two behind the eldest brother and did a near perfect imitation of Sig's hand motions and facial expressions as he bestowed his immense knowledge on the room. While Dana had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, Norman's eyes flicked between Sig and Edgar easily but his face never changed. Kjiersten had much the same reaction from her position to the side of her uncles, watching both with almost an eager look on her face until she finally broke into a grin, let out a single snort, and turned to whisper something to Josh. Yes, this was a strange family Dana found herself tangled up in now, with these loud, obnoxious men around her but a quiet, unassuming man next to her and the step-daughter that was a balance of the two. It was an odd family to know and interact with, and certainly not one to marry into without thinking about first; she could only imagine what this miraculous child of theirs was going to become. This Elena Hope Camden-Hansen. The one thing Dana knew for sure was that, with the Hansens guiding her along the way, Elena was going to grow up into one hell of a woman. And she really wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
